During the week, Brian O’Driscoll announced that he would be postponing any decision on his future until July.

Speculation has been in mounting over the past two years and the postponement can be looked at in two lights.

On one hand, the Leinster centre may not have made up his mind completely. But on the other hand, it is quite possible that he has made a decision to call it a day but does not want to disturb the tail end of Leinster’s season which is still alive and kicking in the RaboDirect Pro 12 and Amlin Challenge Cup.

That provincial career and the current uncertainty surrounding Leinster is likely to hold one of the keys to his future.

Leinster are firmly in transition after an unprecedented period of success which saw them win three Heineken Cups in four years between 2009 and 2012. At 34 he may feel that there is no sense being part of the new cycle that will surely begin to be blooded, so it may well be may the spur to push him towards an exit in order to make way for younger players.

The same is true of his international career as Ireland are in flux with a new management team to appoint and young blood taking over from the old guard.

However, as O’Driscoll showed in the Six Nations, particularly against Wales, he is still capable of world class performances despite his advancing years and he will hope any decision will not be greeted with fleeting tinges of “what might have been”.

Personal and health consideration will also be paramount in his mind. He became the father of a baby girl on the eve of the England match and in many ways that marks a new phase in anyone’s life.

And in terms of health, now may be the time to finish his career before the lengthy list of injuries he has suffered over the last dozen years take their toll.