The 32-year-old, who has 117 Ireland caps to his name, including 81 as captain, led Ireland to the World Cup quarter-finals in New Zealand last month but was expected to hang up his international boots after a disappointing last-eight defeat to Wales.

O’Driscoll has other ideas however, and after guiding Ireland to their first ever World Cup victory over a Southern Hemisphere nation in New Zealand with a 15-6 win over Australia, the Leinster centre wants to break more international ground.

And while the forthcoming Six Nations are his No.1 priority, O’Driscoll has targeted a first-ever win over the All Blacks when Ireland return to New Zealand to face the world champions next summer.

"Just because you get to a certain age it's 'oh, he should go now'," O'Driscoll told the Irish Independent. "It is a bit (irritating) but, whatever. I was still worth my place in the World Cup team and I don't have any aspirations to hang up my boots.

"People were trying to retire me when I was 29 but I still enjoy it too much and still feel as though I have something to offer, and as long as I have something to offer and coaches want to select me, well that combination is important enough for me to continue to play on.

"Maybe I'm not as quick or as sharp as I used to be in the past, but I think I have other attributes that I didn't have back then, so it's about trying to maximise what you do have.”

"The great thing is that there's always a carrot there. I know it's a three-Test tour down in New Zealand, which is no easy feat, but to be able to go down and hopefully do something that an Irish team hasn't done before excites me and it excites other guys."

And O’Driscoll admitted the fear of regretting an early retirement is what’s still fuelling his fires.

He added: "I don't want to look back in three or four years' time and wish that I had played one more year. The other thing is that I don't want to look back and wish that I had one less year. It's about trusting your head and your body, and I am certainly not ready to go yet."