“KNOWLEDGE IS KNOWING that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.”

Those were the legendary words delivered by Brian O’Driscoll ahead of Ireland’s Six Nations clash with England in 2009.

O’Driscoll had been asked about playing with Martin Johnson, then England head coach, during their time together with the British and Irish Lions.

His words, delivered with studied precision, quickly became infamous. What exactly did O’Driscoll mean?

“It didn’t really matter what I meant,” he said on The Clare Balding Show, which airs on BT Sport this evening, and explained that it was all part of a bet with centre partner Gordon D’Arcy.

“It didn’t matter what the question was because that was my answer to it,” BOD continued.

“It just happened to be referencing Martin Johnson. I didn’t even hear what the question was because I’d just decided …

The bet had been with my centre partner Gordon D’Arcy. Every day we’d get an itinerary and ‘Thought of the Day.’ This was the thought of the day, Rala’s thought of the day, our bag man.

“He said to me in the dressing room before the press conference, ‘I bet you, some kind of forfeit, that you can’t get that into the press conference.’

“So, sure enough, I got it in.”

And D’Arcy’s forfeit?

“I just wanted to see Gordon D’Arcy getting a ‘back, crack and sack’ wax.”

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