Paul O’Connell has admitted it would be hard to write a better exit script than the final acts of Brian O’Driscoll’s Ireland career.

As the Irish players returned to Dublin airport – where they were greeted by 1500 fans – the Ireland captain talked about the special nature of finishing not only on a high, but also with the rare double experience of a win in Paris and a 6 nations championship.

“We were only talking about it last night, some great players have retired over the number of years and not many of them would have been able to write a script like this, to finish like this,” O’Connell said.

“To finish winning away in Paris and winning a championship as well, they’re both quite rare things to happen so it’s a brilliant way to finish.

O’Connell speculated that despite the significance of the occasion O’Driscoll was able to keep his emotions in check.

“Brian is very kind of controlled in everything he does. I think he had a few moments alright, certainly where Joe spoke about him in the pre match meeting and things like that, but I think he’s fairly at ease with the decision, he’s probably known for a long time that he was doing it and I think he’s probably just enjoying his last few moments in the jersey and with the squad,” O’Connell said.

The hope for the future of this team that will come from a 6 Nations title win in Joe Schmidt’s first year in charge is clearly reduced somewhat as O’Driscoll leaves. O’Connell admitted the reality of life after O’Driscoll will only begin to settle in over the next few weeks, and probably not until the team reconvenes for the summer tour of Argentina.

“When we came off the pitch there was definitely a bit of a feeling of, you know it was the end of an era, the end of something very special.”

“I think it will probably sink in more over the next few weeks and it will probably sink more when we go to Argentina in the summer” O’Connell added.