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That time Brian O’Driscoll got sick on Paris’ most famous street while celebrating iconic win

Published 14:38 3 Feb 2026 GMT

Updated 14:38 3 Feb 2026 GMT

SportsJOE
That time Brian O’Driscoll got sick on Paris’ most famous street while celebrating iconic win

Homerugby

A cracking story.

On March 19, 2000, in the first year of the competition, Ireland produced one of their most iconic Six Nations wins.

Coming off of a bleak run in the '90s, without a victory away to France since 1972, they were not given much of a chance in Paris.

However, had they known just how good a young Brian O'Driscoll was, the odds would have been significantly shorter.

Despite it coming so early in his international career, his hat-trick performance at the Stade de France is still his most celebrated in green.

But while the images of the 21-year-old in his baggy jersey, tearing past French defenders, are etched in the collective memories of Irish fans, his shenanigans after the match on the streets of La Ville Lumière are lesser known.

Thankfully, Tom English has kept the story alive in his wonderful book 'No Borders'; an essential piece in any Irish fans' reading collection.

Describing the night out after the game, O'Driscoll said: "Naive me didn't realise that we hadn't won in Paris for thirty-odd years, and I scored a few tries and we won the game and I thought, 'Ah, this is great, it's very exciting,' but I didn't realise the enormity of it until we got back home. We went out that night to Kitty O'Shea's, and then eventually Mick Galway and his wife said, 'Right, we're going home.'"

His centre parter on the day was Rob Henderson, who can be thanked for his assist to BOD for his second try, but also his assist on the ses, when he picked up a man who seemed completely faded, despite there being plenty of time left on the clock.

Disrespecting iconic Parisienne locations was O'Driscoll's forte that day, and he kept it going on Europe's most famous street.