No it’s not Kevin Maggs or Rob Henderson, it’s Brian O’Driscoll who has been voted as the greatest player to have ever graced the Heineken Cup.
The great Leinster and Ireland number 13 pulled in a whopping 76 per cent of fans’ votes in the All-Ireland survey by Heineken analysing the latest opinions, habits and trends of Irish Heineken Cup fans.
Two-time Heineken cup winner O’Driscoll was the runaway winner ahead of Ronan O’Gara, who picked up 15 per cent of the votes, with honourable mentions for Martin Johnson, Diego Dominguez, Rocky Elsom, John Hayes, Peter Clohessy, Yannick Jauzion, Peter Stringer and Stephen Ferris.
Although we hope it won’t go to the heads of Joe Schmidt and his players ahead of Sunday’s encounter with Clermont Auvergne, 84 per cent of those surveyed said that Leinster will win this season’s competition, followed by nine per cent who think Ulster will win it out and seven per cent who fancy Clermont.
Incidentally, not one person thought Michael Bradley’s Edinburgh side have a hope of winning the Heineken Cup outright. Nobody. Nada. Zip.
Elsewhere in the survey, 54 per cent of respondents said that the welfare of their team in the competition is a matter of life and death, while refreshingly, two thirds of those polled said they’d be willing to support another Irish province in the competition. It should be noted that another quarter said it would be dependent on what province.
Any Ulster fans who missed out on tickets to Saturday’s quarter-final meeting with Edinburgh can still enter our competition to win two Heineken box tickets, where they can avail of top class seats as well as all the trimmings that come with corporate hospitality. Click here for more details.
Heineken will also be giving away tickets in certain Dublin pubs playing host to the Heineken Cup Green Zones this Friday evening. The Unlock the Locker competition will be taking place in the Ferryman Inn on Friday at 5.30pm and Kiely’s of Donnybrook at 9pm that same evening.
The Heineken Green Zones are returning to Dublin this weekend for the Heineken Cup semi-final. In participating Heineken pubs throughout Dublin, the Heineken Green Zone areas recreate the stadium feel with goalposts and stadium floodlights where fans can engage, connect and enjoy a chilled Heineken before, during and after the game.
To find the nearest Heineken Green Zone visit the Heineken website.
