Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Paul O'Connell knees Brian O'Driscoll in the head

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Paul O'Connell knees Brian O'Driscoll in the head

Brian O'Driscoll took a big knock to the side of the head against England on Saturday, coming from none other than teamate Paul O'Connell. A few people have requested to see it again, so here is the sickening blow.

O'Driscoll was stretchered off the field as a precautionary measure, making the incident look worse than it probably was, but coach Declan Kidney was quick to play down the collision.

"Brian took bit of a bang. It was nothing - he was out on the pitch at the end. He's good and is enjoying the win as much as anyone," said Kidney, referring to the 20-16 win.

"Brian just felt he should make Paul do the press conference to make up for him giving him a bang on the head with his knee. There's no risk of concussion. He's fine," he added.

Despite the blow looking pretty severe, with O'Driscoll getting up and falling down twice afterwards, he's been cleared of further injury and will be free to play against Wales in their next match.

He even managed to update his Twitter page on Sunday, the day after the match. 'Sore head but the win is worth the headache,' he said.

Take a look at the related links for a few other big knees, and if you're still interested in buying tickets for Six Nations matches, you can get them at a 5% discount through us. Read more here.

Time: 02:54

ooo, we've all had one of those!

Good clip RD, cheers!

By Anonymous, at March 03, 2010 11:04 am
how did O'Connell not see that...

By Anonymous, at March 03, 2010 11:07 am
headgear!!!

By Anonymous, at March 03, 2010 11:23 am
holy shit. o'connell must want to be captain really badly...

BOD IS BE LEGEND.

By Anonymous, at March 03, 2010 11:24 am
He must have a ban !

By Anonymous, at March 03, 2010 11:43 am
yeah that was outright intentional, ban him for at least 4 weeks :D

pretty heavy knock

By sebastian, at March 03, 2010 11:56 am
o'connel got to go m8, so disapointed from such a great player, whats next...

By ToddTheClutchClever, at March 03, 2010 11:57 am
From some angles it looks like Flutey trips O'Driscoll...

By Ted, at March 03, 2010 11:58 am
So bad

By Anonymous, at March 03, 2010 12:55 pm
See how he tries to get up and collapses twice?? I think he has more guts than brains. There comes a time when you've just got to know when you are beaten and stay down.

Should the referee have stopped it though? Surely O'Connell would have told him it was a head injury.

By John, at March 03, 2010 1:39 pm
Delon Armitage's forearm to the head of johnny Sexton when Sextone ut the grubber through for the first try could have been just as serious.

By Anonymous, at March 03, 2010 2:22 pm
Of course he won't get a ban - he's not French. Durrr....

By JK, at March 03, 2010 2:43 pm
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

By Anonymous, at March 03, 2010 3:05 pm
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By george, at March 03, 2010 3:52 pm
What are your talkin about.....BODs hit on Roussow is a perfect example of how much of a great player he really is.Has no fear of anyone on a pitch. To even attempt a charge on a player who outweighs him by 50-60 pounds at least is admirable no matter who he is. Sheer power and aggression!!

By Anonymous, at March 03, 2010 4:14 pm
Lol at the second comment....o'connell, much like myself is rather tall and long legged.....we dont tend to notice whats happening from the waist down....especially if there is a rugby ball to fixate (sp?) upon....

lol, i was gonna say it but ive been beaten....looks like o'connell wants to be captain real bad!!!

By Anonymous, at March 03, 2010 4:17 pm
.......that is the problem with one eyed fans.....

they sit back and think My team is great....if they dont play for my team then they're shit.....

then they say...ah my team got beaten....but look, teams from my hemisphere beat the team that beat my team....so just cos they beat us doesnt mean they are good....they're still shit....

etc etc etc.....

unfortunately there appears to be very few fans who will look and see talent within a player no matter what shirt they wear...whether it be for a team they cannot begin to hate any more than possible, or whether it be from their own home country.

Tiresome very tiresome

By No.7, at March 03, 2010 4:21 pm
hmmmm Flutey does trip o'driscoll, the thing is though, it didnt look particularly intentional and also in that situation, (going for the ball like they were) they were crossing each other etc, so i doubt anything could/would have come of it..

By Anonymous, at March 03, 2010 4:43 pm
conspiracy! o'connell and england must've planned this prior to the match!

By Anonymous, at March 03, 2010 4:49 pm
Thats just an accident... I had on of those in the past...

By eric, at March 03, 2010 5:05 pm
listen to FEZ roar at the ref... "sir!!!sir!!sir!!!" lol

By b, at March 03, 2010 5:29 pm
Oh that man is made of iron.

How many knocks has he taken over the years ? And all he does is get back up. Absolute hero.

By Third centre, at March 03, 2010 5:51 pm
@george: you think drico is overrated?! you're an idiot

99caps for ireland, 57 as captain
38 international test tries which makes him the 11th highest scorer in test rugby EVER.
Lions captain + 3 times Lions tourist...
3 times nominated as IRB player of the year.
Rugbyworld's PLAYER OF THE DECADE.

It's funny how any professional centre nowadays will aspire to be even be remotely as talented and influential as him...yet you think he's an "overrated prick"

You sir are a jackass!

By Luke, at March 03, 2010 6:00 pm
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By Anonymous, at March 03, 2010 8:23 pm
Few people put their body on the line as much as this man. The very fact he attempted to get up twice and fell speaks volumes about his character. Many others may have stayed on the ground but he was only thinking of defending with his team. A truly great player whose record speaks for itself.

By Anonymous, at March 03, 2010 11:38 pm
BOD also played well in that match up to that point, despite some of the player ratings from certain UK papers...e.g. his turnover for the the first try (which the RD clip doesn't include)his tackle of Fluety...u could just see a gaping hole for England to try to exploit once he left the pitch.

By mise, at March 03, 2010 11:59 pm
in your face Bod.

By Anonymous, at March 04, 2010 12:00 am
Just want to say No.7, you are spot on!

Bad hit on O'Driscol by the way, he is fine now, should be flying for the games against Wales and Scotland!!

By Westerner, at March 04, 2010 12:54 am
Actually that Flutey is such a God damned cheat. He did two cheap shots on Drico last year in the Six Nations that he got away with, and here he pushes him before he actually has the ball and gets away with it again. I hate that guy, that 'Englishman'.

By Kearney for tests, at March 04, 2010 2:46 am
I said put it in my mouth already!

By Kearney for tests, at March 04, 2010 3:10 am
well done on getting to 99, better luck on the 100th

Much respect from this Australian supporter.

By Unknown, at March 04, 2010 4:32 am
"There's no risk of concussion..." I'm sorry, but maybe I don't understand what a concussion is. If this happened to someone in my team and they reacted in the same way, they would have the mandatory week off.

Anyone want to clear up the medical issues or lack thereof here?

By granite, at March 04, 2010 4:49 am
O'Connell had a minor concussion against italy but was fit for the french game a week after, BOD has a 2week lay off so he should be fit, as long as he isnt rushed back like McCaw clearly had been and got concussed another few times and then have to sit out 6months. If he isnt fit for the welsh game who would you bring in? I say give trimble his chance at 13 where he started his career.

By Oucho Noggin, at March 04, 2010 10:34 am
@Oucho Noggin

U cud bring in Earls to centre or out paddy wallace at 12 and d'arcy 13. Trimble has been playin well but most of these displays have been as a winger which seems to suit him at the moment

By MCB, at March 04, 2010 12:30 pm
You're right granite. BOD was hearing the bells of St. Michael. Stay out a week, pal.

By Anonymous, at March 04, 2010 4:07 pm
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By Alexander, at March 04, 2010 4:58 pm
Agree with No.7. Oh yeah, to all you idiots out there, O Driscoll is NOT overrated...he's underrated if anything because there are still people who believe he is overrated.....Spell it out: I.D.I.O.T.S!!!!!!!!!

Do wish some people (particularly some of the, err....'Southern Hemisphere' folk as they like to COLLECTIVELY refer to themselves as (You are all unrelated, INDEPENDENT nations just so you know, (ya can have that little bit of basic geography for free)) would show some respect to B(/G)OD!!

By Alexander, at March 04, 2010 4:59 pm
Kearney for tests :-

It will sicken your shit to hear he most likely will join Munster next season.

By Darren, at March 04, 2010 5:31 pm
Darren...That's the funniest thing i've ever heard in my life.

By Third Centre, at March 04, 2010 7:42 pm
Paulie looking forward to a long career in the UFC after that incident...

By ginger-beef, at March 04, 2010 8:00 pm
FLUTEY is a cheat (nice sly trip), and he got dumped on his fat arse by O Driscoll,what a Loser

By Anonymous, at March 04, 2010 10:05 pm
Before I comment, I'm not an anglophob, and have nothing against the country we've all chosen to speak like, nor English rugby players (cept Care and Armitage, why don't they just go and play soccer) or New Zealanders playing for England. But as a Munster fan, I will be sickened if Munster buy Flutey. SICKENED!! He's another inside centre. We're fine there. How bout a world class tight head prop, that'd be nice.

By Huh!! the 3rd, at March 05, 2010 1:49 am
What's with all the 'Drico' talk - trying to make him sound cool?

Always like to see BOD get fucked up!!

By Anonymous, at March 05, 2010 2:22 am
It was admirable how he tried to get up twice to defend the gain line.

By Anonymous, at March 05, 2010 4:45 am
O'Connell is thinking 'Who's captain now? hahaha.

By Paul, at March 06, 2010 6:58 am
If you look twice, Flutey follows through with his other foot and tries to kick his feet from under him. He also tried to give him a nudge (not particularly viscious but still illegal). He was just trying to stop BOD in any illegal way he could, as he couldn't take him down legally.

So one trip, one blatently attempted trip, and a push off the ball...

By Anonymous, at March 06, 2010 4:36 pm
Flutey definitely took him out. Can't blame him for the injury obviously.

Funny though how that kind of thing often happens when someone is taken out though - it sort of puts them where they're not expected to be in terms of body position/position on the park.

I'm thinking of a game between New Zealand and France where someone got clocked as a result of a shove at the base of a ruck/tackle and got cleaned up with a knee - I think it was Betsen who got the shot.

By Eoghan, at March 08, 2010 10:22 am
Dont mean to offend anyone , but O Driscoll is just not rated down here in NZ

By Anonymous, at March 30, 2010 9:14 pm