The rise of Sean O'Brien - The Tullow Tank
Wednesday 21 December 2011
As the star player of Ireland's World Cup campaign, a Heineken Cup winner, ERC European Player of the Year and Rugby Writers of Ireland Player of the Year, it's easy to forget that Sean O'Brien is only 24 years of age. The back-rower's sensational rise to stardom has turned rugby heads worldwide to the RDS Arena.
The forward's career came into the public eye back in 2007 when he was part of Ireland's under 20's side that won the Grand Slam. A year later in September 2008, O'Brien debuted for Leinster in the 16-16 draw against the Cardiff Blues in the Celtic League and only three months later he made his Heineken Cup debut in a 33-3 triumph of Castres.
As a result of his explosive introduction to the world stage of rugby, O'Brien soon became a man in high demand. Despite reported interest from overseas, O'Brien signed a new three year deal to remain with Leinster and after putting pen to paper; the 24 year old went back to doing what he does best on the pitch which is destroying defences with his devastating ball carrying.
2011 will be a year that sticks with the forward for the rest of his life. After starting all five of Ireland's Six Nations matches, one of which he was awarded the man of the match award (the 13-11 win against Italy), O'Brien made himself a certainty to have a plane ticket to New Zealand for the World Cup. That combined with his breathtaking performances for Leinster who went on to win one of the greatest Heineken Cup finals against Northampton Saints, O'Brien received praise from around the world well before the World Cup had even begun.
Arguably the biggest highlight in Sean O'Brien's year, if not career, was the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. O'Brien started all but one of Ireland's five World Cup matches; the one he missed being Ireland's 22-10 victory over the USA. Declan Kidney's side faced Australia in their next pool match knowing that they needed a much improved performance from that against the USA. O'Brien started his first of four games at number seven for the Irish, much to the delight of Brian O'Driscoll who had special praise for the performance of his side's forwards in the famous 15-6 win over the Wallabies. The 6ft 2in forward repeated his achievement of earning the Man of the Match award against Italy as Ireland eventually romped to a 36-6 pool stage win over the Azzurri. Further accolades included being named Player of Pool C by the IRB and one of the tournament's top five players by the official Rugby World Cup website.
After a truly remarkable year of rugby, O'Brien was among the nominees for the 2011 Irish Sports Personality of the Year award and despite missing out on the award to U.S Open Champion Rory McIlroy, the Carlow born star's achievements were recognised once again when his Leinster side scooped the Team of the Year award.
If you were to read this article as a non-rugby fan, you'd probably be fair to assume that Sean O'Brien is a rugby legend, but at only 24 years old, O'Brien has many years of rugby ahead of him, and if he continues the rate of improvement, that assumption could well become a fact.
