Quotes from Brian O'Driscoll

I was quite small as a kid and maybe a little afraid physically. When I grew into myself, the realisation changed. That when you hurt yourself, it's transient; it doesn't stay forever.

I would always treat my attacking game as the more natural part. With defence, you have to get yourself in positions to understand the game and understand situations and that might not be as natural a thing.

If you stop doing a skill you've done for years for any period of time, there's an adjustment period to get it back. In anything you do. Motor skills won't work as fast, because repetition is everything.

What do you remember about Jason Robinson? His feet. Not how improved he was under a high ball or his kicking skills. Everyone remembers those feet. He could go round you in a phone box.

I've got my head fixed on the next part of life. I know there will be an adjusting period of just not being a rugby player for a while, and over that period I'll get my head around what the next challenge involves.

I have ambitions to set records which will be hard to chase down, like getting more than 100 caps for Ireland.

I have always played into the belief that you are only ever borrowing the jersey; you never own the jersey because someone has gone before you and there is going to be someone after you, so it's a case of giving the jersey maximum respect.

I had massive admiration for lots of players. Richard Hill would be up there, along with Martin Johnson.

I didn't know Ian Smith myself!

I'm fairly adventurous with my eating. I've tried kangaroo, and Moreton Bay bugs, which are a kind of lobster, are so good.

Aaron Cruden and Beauden Barrett have both been decent, but Dan Carter takes it on to a different level, and he kicks his goals better than both of them.

When you are captain, you are never speaking for yourself.

It's 45 minutes after the game right now and I still don't want to take this jersey off. That's because I know that when I do it'll be for the last time.

If you can beat New Zealand, then you're probably going to win the World Cup.

Your name or what you've done on the rugby pitch is not going to carry you through for the rest of your life. I realise I'm going to have to eventually do something else, and that does frighten me a little bit.

A physical therapist does some unbelievable stretching with me.

I'm very happy to have been a one-club man, but I wouldn't shoot down guys who have gone off and played in multiple clubs either because, essentially, it is an earning that people are after.

It's happened a couple of times in training when I hyper-extend my back. Some facet joints send all the muscles in my lower back and lumbar-spine into spasm.

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.

There is no point winning the semi if you don't win the final. It's as simple as that. No one will remember a big semifinal if you lose the final, so you have to do it all again.

My nutritional knowledge is good enough to figure out what's good, what's bad, and where my leeway is.

The big upside to being captain is it's a huge honour, but the downside is that there is definitely extra pressure.

If you stick around long enough and you do enough of the right things, you get seen in a largely positive light.

People talk about loyalty of players to clubs. But in the everyday world, you don't see people being loyal to their company when they're getting offered considerably better deals elsewhere.