Brian O'Driscoll was on Newstalk's Off the Ball on Wednesday evening and spoke about one of the most memorable moments in Irish sporting history - John Hayes being brought to tears during the national anthems at Croke Park for Ireland vs England in 2007.
O'Driscoll, who was standing next to Hayes for the anthems, was asked by Colm Parkinson if he had "tasted the props tears".
The centre says that he was completely unaware of the Bull's waterworks. You've really got to be in the zone to miss a 6' 4", 128kg man mountain like John Hayes crying.
I was oblivious to it. I didn't know it was going on. Hayes was never one for singing anthems too loud, so I couldn't tell there was emotion or not. It was only subsequently I saw them, when I saw the tears in the pictures.
If I had known, I don't know if I would have started laughing or whether I'd have started crying myself.
You knew how important the game was when that freak was going to be crying.
Asked if he was close to getting emotional in that moment, the former Irish captain responded that he was but that he had always managed to keep his emotions veiled during his career.
Yeah, but I think there's a fine line keeping things in check. Yeah there's emotion involved, but I don’t know, I never really let it go too often in the anthems.
I think you are more excited about the game rather than letting the emotion take over from that.
You can listen to O'Driscoll from the 10:30 mark below.
Picture Credit: Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE
