Brian O'Driscoll explores the unifying power of rugby in Ireland with Shoulder to Shoulder - exclusive video

Fifty years since the start of The Troubles, former Ireland and British & Irish Lions captain Brian O’Driscoll explores rugby’s unique unifying power across the island of Ireland.

The film captures the remarkable history of the Irish national rugby union team which, despite being in a country divided not just on a map but by politics, history and religion, brought together players and fans from Northern and Southern Ireland and united them on and off the rugby pitch.

In this exclusive clip from the BT Sport documentary Shoulder to Shoulder, O'Driscoll speaks to another former Ireland captain, Donal Lenihan, about an army attack, the reality of playing for the Irish rugby team at the time and playing alongside those serving in the British military.

"The real moment that it was brought home to me was the Thursday before we played France in 1985," says Lenihan.

"We came back and I was rooming with Willy Anderson, Jimmy McCoy was in the bedroom next door, sharing room with Phil Orr, and he came in really upset, with Trevor Ringland. Word had just come through that the RUC station in Newry had been bombed by the IRA."

"The rocket attack killed nine officers and I knew quite a few of them," adds McCoy. "It affected people in the squad too, as it brought home that these things can happen out there. They were very supportive, and it was very helpful I have to say." 

Lenihan continues: "I remember taking Jimmy into a corner that night and saying Jimmy explain to me what happens when you go home? 'Well,' he said, 'I'll have to go to their funerals... They're colleagues of mine.

"He said, I stood in front of the tri-colour, my colleagues in the RUC would be buried with the Union Jack on their coffins. The IRA fellows who committed the atrocities were killed in that action will have the tri-colour on their coffin - that's what I face when I go home.

"That was the turning point for me personally and that was probably the first time that I sat down and really tried to understand," concludes Lenihan.

Shoulder to Shoulder premieres at 10pm on October 12 on BT Sport 2