Upwards of 20,000 Irish supporters were treated to a record away win over England, as Andy Farrell’s men reignited their Guinnesss Men’s Six Nations campaign with a stellar performance against a side that have won their last nine home matches.
This is O’Brien’s first senior Six Nations Championship, and the Leinster winger has experienced a whole range of emotions during the opening three rounds.
From that disappointing losing start in Paris, to missing out on selection against Italy, and then scoring as an earlier-than-expected replacement on Saturday as England were stunned into submission.
The mood in the Twickenham dressing room after the 42-21 victory was a world away from the dejection of Stade de France, with O’Brien saying: “It’s awesome, and in stark contrast to two weeks ago how we just knew it wasn’t where we should be and what we hold ourselves to.
“So, the feeling of just sitting in the changing room, sharing a beer with your team-mates afterwards, when you know you’ve put in a proper performance and emptied yourself, is incredible.
“We needed that (performance), we needed some sort of a statement win. Obviously, there were a lot of things better against Italy than France, but coming over here, getting a result like that is something special.”
Wearing jersey number 23, he was expecting to be tasked with making an impact off the bench during the second half. Instead, he entered the fray much earlier, replacing the injured James Lowe with just 18-and-a-half minutes on the clock.
It was not long until the 27-year-old had his hands on the ball, just 20 seconds to be exact. He popped up on the opposite wing, in support of Robert Baloucoune, and used the Enniskillen man’s offload to dart up to the English 22.
Just three phases later, Ireland were awarded a penalty back on the left side of the pitch, and Jamison Gibson-Park took it quickly to slide over in the corner. The scrum half almost had a second try, but O’Brien was penalised for making contact with Freddie Steward in the air.
He made sure he won the next high ball, beating Tommy Freeman to it. It set the wheels in motion for Stuart McCloskey to burst through midfield, and Gibson-Park snapped up quick ruck ball to put Baloucoune over out wide.
The key involvements kept coming from the Dubliner, who was celebrating his first Six Nations try – and his sixth in eight Tests – only minutes later, as Ireland clinically moved 22 points clear on the scoreboard.
Invited forward by good work from captain Caelan Doris, Baloucoune neatly dummied and accelerated down the left wing before giving the supporting O’Brien the chance to evade Freeman’s tap tackle and touch down close to the posts.
Asked about how he approached coming on so early in the third round encounter, he admitted: “Sometimes it’s better where you just get thrown into it and you don’t have time to think.
“Twickenham was always going to be at this level (of intensity). That was something that we said, just making sure that the first 20 minutes we absolutely fire into them.
“I haven’t been on the bench in a while but you forget that when you’re on the bench. You’re thinking of everything, watching everyone, seeing how they’re getting on.
“I actually ended up getting on after about 20 minutes, which I wasn’t expecting. But I just said, fire into it and give it an absolute crack. That’s what we said, and see what happens from there.”
Any nerves O’Brien felt playing in Twickenham for the first time evaporated, considering how swiftly he slotted in, and in such a positive manner. He made over 60 metres from his seven carries, beat two defenders, and was part of a busy back-three that contributed three of Ireland’s five tries.
The confidence was flowing across the team given how they were able to move the scoreboard from 3-0 to 22-0 in the space of 10 minutes. Steward’s yellow card helped, and England also lost Henry Pollock to the sin bin before Dan Sheehan bagged an early second-half bonus point try.
Added to that, the travelling support in the attendance of 81,953 regularly made their voices heard, and choruses of ‘The Fields of Athenry’ rang out as Ireland tightened their grip on the game, holding off any hopes of an English fightback.
Having seen the amount of green in the stands, and the noise generated, O’Brien spoke from the heart about the shared pride in the jersey and how meaningful it is for the team to be able to give the fans something big to celebrate.
“That’s something we definitely don’t underestimate, giving the Irish people these special days and how special it is to us to provide these special moments.
“We see the support and we absolutely love it. It’s so special. I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but we really do have the best fans in the world.
“When you see how many people are in the stands, how happy everyone is, how proud everyone is to be Irish, that’s unbelievable.”
After being likened to American football legend Aaron Rodgers due to his ‘quarterback’ pass to Baloucoune against Italy, Stuart McCloskey was hugely influential again at Twickenham, particularly in defence where he surprised even his team-mates with his speed to reel in Marcus Smith late on.
O’Brien praised the Ulster centre for the impressive form he has shown across the tournament’s first three weekends, and also namechecked some of the forwards for the quality of their performances, including Doris who looked back to his best.
Referring to Smith’s 73rd-minute interception which could have led to a breakaway try, he conceded: “I thought I was walking back in under the sticks because they were going to score and, yeah, Stu McCluskey was amazing. He burned Jamie (Osborne) in that chase back.
“We had been slagging him during the week for being a quarterback, but that was like a cornerback or a safety or something like that in the NFL, tracking him down.
“We didn’t know he had those wheels in him but he’s going be living off that for a while! He’s on fire, and is getting better and better. I don’t know what age he is now, 32, 33, but he’s in the prime of his life, I reckon.”
O’Brien added: “The forwards were doing unbelievable work behind the scenes, and so much dirty work, every collision was being absolutely fired into.
“Caelan was awesome, Joe (McCarthy) had a huge few big moments, Josh (van der Flier) is an absolute machine, Tadhg Beirne had a few big moments.
“I think to put a performance like that today, you need everyone to be putting in nearly eight or nine out of 10. You can see guys who were bouncing up off the ground and just firing into everything.”
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