Boshoff relishes clash with O'Driscoll

Golden Lions centre Jannie Boshoff has played against some big-name stars in the Super 14 but they don't get much bigger than the man he'll line up against at Coca-Cola Park on Wednesday night.

The Lions youngster will go head-to-head with Ireland's Grand Slam-winning captain Brian O'Driscoll when the British and Irish Lions visit Doornfontein.

The match is the second of a 10-match tour of South Africa for the Lions from the north, having kicked off their tour with a patchy win against a Royal XV last Saturday.

Boshoff, who didn't feature as much as he would have liked in this year's Super 14 competition, admits tonight's clash will go down as one of the biggest highlights of his career.

"If you're not a Test player the chances of playing against international stars such as these doesn't happen very often," said Boshoff on Tuesday.

"And the Lions only tour here every 12 years so this is a very special occasion and opportunity. No matter what happens to my career going forward this will certainly stand out."

It is not known how many match jerseys the Lions have brought on tour but Boshoff is hopeful of getting his hands on O'Driscoll's after tonight's game.

"Phew, that would be something quite wonderful and special," said Boshoff.

So what is the Lions youngster expecting from the match?

"I don't really know. I never knew I'd be playing in this fixture and just a few days ago did we find out that O'Driscoll had been picked to start. We haven't been able to do much homework on them, but then again we know who the players are and what they're capable of.

"Brian's a great player - world class and up there with the best centres of the last few years so it's going to be a huge challenge."

This story was sourced from iol.co.za.