O'Driscoll excited by Australia challenge

For as much as Brian O'Driscoll says Ireland's match with Australia is just another game, you know the elder statesman of Irish rugby will savour the moment at Eden Park on Saturday.

Rugby World Cup 2011 is 32-year-old O'Driscoll's last one in a memorable career that began with his Test debut in 1999.

Saturday's Pool C match will also be O'Driscoll's 11th Test against Australia and marks the 14th time he has faced the Wallabies. That is the most appearances by a northern hemisphere player.

O'Driscoll knows the stakes are high and the reward is a better position for the team heading into the knockout rounds.

"We accept that it is a very, very big game,'' said O'Driscoll, who has played 114 internationals and scored 44 tries, both Irish records.

"They are the top-seeded team in our pool and they are everyone's expectation of finishing first so that in itself will make it a huge game.

"The fact we feel as though we have not done ourselves justice with our past performances adds to the level of expectation at our end.

"They are one of the best teams in the world so why not take the opportunity now? It may not present itself again to play in a situation like this, so give it your all.

Now or never

"I am excited that I have the prospect of taking them on on Saturday afternoon and all the work I have put in through the week and all the work I have put in over the last 10 to 12 weeks culminates in games like this.

"It is a little bit of now or never and hopefully we will win."

Ireland are underdogs against the Australians and O'Driscoll knows they will need to mirror the performance they turned in when they beat England in the Six Nations tournament in March.

"I think we did bring a great intensity in that game and we will need to try to recapture what it was that did it for us," he said.

"Anytime you play well, it is always trying to mirror the build-up and the attitude and everything from that game and it is hard to duplicate.

"Australia in a World Cup, not too many games come as big as that so hopefully motivation won't be lacking.

"I think the fact we have beaten Australia has helped us.

No secret

"I think that it is in the back of their heads, the realisation that we have done it before, so it is remembering that formula of what it was that did it for us.

"There is no real secret to those victories. You just have to bring a big intensity to the game and it is the will to win - who wants it more."

Given how the match could be the last time O'Driscoll plays Australia at the World Cup, he was pressed on whether there was extra pressure on him.

"Just because of the enormity of the game, it does not change anything. It does not make you react to or prepare any way different,'' he said.

"You still train as hard. It is just essentially another game. You can build it up to be bigger than it is or you want it to be.

"But it still comes down to enjoying the occasion. What is the point of heaping more pressure on yourself?"