Brian O’Driscoll targeting final Ireland success before retirement

Brian O’Driscoll wants to finish his Ireland career on a high after announcing he will retire at the end of the season.

The 34-year-old, who is the leading Six Nations try scorer of all time, made his Ireland and Leinster debut in 1999 and has 125 caps for country.

O’Driscoll captained Ireland between 2003 and 2012, with Jamie Heaslip taking over the leadership during last year’s Six Nations.

Ireland’s record try-scorer, O’Driscoll led his country to the 2009 Grand Slam and also has four triple crowns to his name.

And the Leinster centre, who initially planned to hang up his boots this summer before agreeing to play on, would like nothing more than to add another Six Nations title to his CV in his final season.

“I had to think long and hard [about playing this season] and there were a number of factors,” O’Driscoll told Newstalk. “I had to talk to [wife] Amy and listen to my body.

“I had to learn if I was still wanted in the Leinster set-up and the Irish set-up. It would be rude of me not to mention the chants from the stands in the RDS of ‘one more year’, the fact that you’re still wanted by the faithful does mean an awful lot, too.

“You want to win everything you are in. It would be lovely to win a championship and a Six Nations and the Heineken Cup.

“I’m lucky to have won some things in the latter part of my career and most recently a Lions series so it’s nice to tick some boxes.”