Rugby Union legend Brian O’Driscoll marked his final home appearance for Ireland by creating a piece of sporting history at the weekend.

The 35-year-old set a new record for most international appearances in Rugby Union after earning his 140 th cap during Ireland’s 46-7 victory over Italy on Saturday.

With O’Driscoll all set to retire from international rugby following the end of this season’s RBS 6 Nations tournament, Saturday’s game which marked his final appearance at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin was high on emotion.

Despite this, O’Driscoll turned in one of his traditional man-of-the-match performances, playing a part in three of Ireland’s tries.

O’Driscoll‘s appearance on Saturday saw him surpass the record of Australian scrumhalf George Gregan, who notched up 139 appearances for his country between 1994 and 2007.

The centre made his full international debut back in June 1999 during a 46–10 loss to Australia in Brisbane as part of the tour of Australia. As well as making 132 appearances for Ireland, O’Driscoll also played eight times for the British and Irish Lions during the 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2013 tours (he is one of only three players to have played in four Lions tours)

Over the course of his international career O'Driscoll has scored 47 tries and won 81 matches in which he has played.