Hungry O’Brien not resting on his laurels

Despite having a Heineken Cup medal and a European Player of the Year gong under his belt, Sean O’Brien is hungry for even more with province and country next season.

The Carlow flanker earned rave reviews for his barnstorming displays with both Leinster and Ireland in the last campaign and was rightly recognised when it came to the end-of season individual awards – he was voted the ERC European Player of the Year and was also in the running for the Six Nations Player of the Tournament.

Less than two months on from the memorable triumph over Northampton in Cardiff, however, O’Brien is keen to move on. After all, with the World Cup around the corner and an influx of new arrivals promising even bigger things for Leinster next season, he has bigger fish to fry.

“It (the Heineken Cup triumph) was good at the time, obviously it was great and it’s there, it’s in the bag, but I think you have to move on, I don’t think you can keep thinking about it," said O’Brien, clad in the brand spanking new Leinster away kit unveiled at the Convention Centre in Dublin yesterday.

“Everyone has said it’s been a great year, but you have to move on because what’s ahead of us is way bigger and could potentially be unreal. Last season is done and dusted; we’re coming into a new season now and it’s an exciting time.

“There’s a lot of youth there, but there’s also a lot of experience there. I think everyone is hungry and the whole work ethic in Leinster at the moment is unbelievable; we have top class coaches and top class players here now and that’s really exciting for the future.

The prospect of O’Brien not making the Irish World Cup squad seems nigh on impossible, yet he somehow manages to keep a straight face when saying that he is “hoping” to make the final cut when Declan Kidney trims down the provisional squad that are currently flitting between mini-camps in Carton House and training with their provinces.

If, nay when, O’Brien is selected, he’s not going to be content with making up the numbers in New Zealand. The dynamic Tullow native, comfortable in any position across the back row, has his eyes on the ultimate prize.

“Obviously the World Cup is around the corner and hopefully I’ll get selected and travel there and I suppose the goal would be to win the World Cup and we’re going over there to do that,” he added.

With O’Brien in the squad, anything is possible.