BRITISH & IRISH LIONS

Where is the mystery nurse?

October 27 2005

Did BOD's nurse exist? Or was it the morphine?

Brian O'Driscoll's latest passage from his new book told the tale of a nurse who allegedly cut through his haze of pain by begging for his shirt as a present.

But the St. John's Ambulance service has disputed the claim, saying it did not even have a nurse in the medical room and the BOD's treatment was controlled by the Lions medical team.

"We only supplied his transport from the pitch to the medical room and later on to the hospital, and again under supervision of the Lions medical team," spokeswoman Amy McDermott is quoted as saying in the Christchurch Press on Thursday.

The New Zealand Rugby Union was also unable to identify the mystery nurse, saying there was only a match doctor on duty.

"It is all news to us. None of the complaints that Brian O'Driscoll has raised coincide with any of the issues raised by the Lions management during our debriefing," said rugby spokesman Brian Finn.

Still, it is unlikely that BOD was merely feeling the effects of the morphine and hallucinating, as his other main beef was the lack of morphine available to him in the medical room.

Finn said the medical officer with the morphine had gone to the rescue of a spectator suffering a fatal heart attack outside the front gate, "which unfortunately just happened exactly at the same time."

Still the debate rages on about the tackle by Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu, but very little that is new is emanating from the New Zealand camp.

"All we can say is what we continue to say. It was an unfortunate incident, but let's move on," New Zealand coach Graham Henry told reporters on Thursday.

"We feel for Brian O'Driscoll, he's an outstanding rugby player and a top man and there's a lot of sympathy for his injury but it was an accident and I think it's time that the rugby world moved on.

"I guess Brian's book coming out right now has actually put a bit of fuel on the fire and so that probably hasn't helped but you can't control these things."

New Zealand are seeking to become the second team behind Graham Mourie's 1978 All Black side to achieve victories over Wales, Ireland, England and Scotland.

Umaga is not likely to play against Ireland, with Henry insisting his captain is to be rested for the first two Tests.