Brian O'Driscoll reminded us agains yesterday, exactly why former England fullback, Mike Brown, was considered one of the more unpopular players outside of his home country.
Both men were appearing on BT, where O'Driscoll made the point that a players on-field persona can differ wildly from their off-field personality, which he said was the case with Brown.
A particular incident which was brought up was their run-in at Twickenham in 2014 when Ireland faced off against the English in that year's Six Nations Championship.
In the clip below, you can see the spikeyness of Brown as he partakes in some unnecessary shoving of O'Driscoll, which the centre just laughs off.
That year's tournament was notable as Ireland pipped England to the title, but Brown also beat O'Driscoll to the Player of the Tournament award.
Brian O'Driscoll vs Mike Brown
22 February 2014; Brian O'Driscoll, Ireland, exchanges words with Mike Brown, England, during the game. RBS Six Nations Rugby Championship, England v Ireland, Twickenham Stadium, Twickenham, London, England. Picture credit: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE
You can tell from watching this clip that Brian O'Driscoll would have loved to absolutely batter Mike Brown when they were playing against each other 🤣pic.twitter.com/oGJWkCmKKh
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) October 23, 2022
READ HERE: Brian O'Driscoll Reveals 'Insane' Training Sessions From His Blackrock College Days
“We had a nice few run-ins throughout the years. It’s funny, particularly when you retire you get to see the personality side of people,” said O'Driscoll on BT Sport.
“But you do get to see people away from games, away from that match intensity. You get to see the true colours and the personality that properly shines through.
“You can be one beast on the field and have a completely different personality off it, as is the case with many people. That’s definitely the case with this guy.
“We played so late where there’s so many cameras so you can’t get away with anything. So it was all pushing and shoving. If it was 20 years ago there might have been some right niggly stuff.”
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