The 26-year-old centre resumed full training earlier this week and was named in the Triple Crown holders’ line-up yesterday, winning his 57th cap and relieving Paul O’Connell of the leadership duties.

His presence has provided Ireland with a timely shot in the arm as they face a thorough examination of their Six Nations title credentials by a England team desperate to restore some battered pride.

And it was the burning desire to meet the ailing world champions at Lansdowne Road on Sunday which has driven O’Driscoll during his two-week battle against injury.

“The knowledge that the England game was coming up really helped during rehab. The will to play in this game was enormous – it doesn’t get much bigger than England at home,” he said.

“The way we’ve been playing and England’s losing streak have teed things up nicely and that was also important. I promised that I would give myself every chance of making this match.”

Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan reported that O’Driscoll’s fitness would be monitored closely in the build up to Sunday but the Leinster back dispelled any doubt he would feature in the crunch encounter.

“I’m 100% certain to play. I feel good and have been running around without any problems. I’m wary of overdoing it because I want to be nice and fresh for Sunday. The two weeks of hard work have paid off – at least I hope they have,” he said.

O’Driscoll endured the ice chambers of Spala, Poland, last week to give himself every chance of beating the injury and the British Lion admitted his time at the rehabilitation centre was profitable.

He said: “The process we went through in Poland doesn’t speed up your recovery. Instead, it helps you complete more training in one day so you end up getting more work done which is beneficial to the healing process.

“I would train after breakfast a couple of times and then go for a cryotherapy session just before lunch time. The temperature would drop in the chamber to minus 135 for three and a half minutes, which is a long time.

“When you come out you’re dressed in knee high socks, shorts, gloves, headband and a mask and you have to heat your body up again for 10 minutes.

“I would do a fitness session straight after that so I’d be killing two birds with one stone. I’d have lunch, do some weights and then have another cryotherapy session in the evening.

“It was intense but I think it worked a treat, although that may have been partly because I was able to get away from everything and not have to worry about being in Dublin at certain times. I was left alone because rugby isn’t that big in Poland.”

While O’Driscoll profited from his time in Poland, the Spala ice chambers could not help his centre partner Gordon D’Arcy who also damaged a hamstring in the Six Nations opener against Italy.

“Gordon was with me in Poland and he was positive throughout. It was great to have him over there because we pushed each other on. There was quite a lot of competition to see who would get fit first,” said O’Driscoll.

“Gordon looked fantastic in Poland but then had a relapse. He wanted to play against England so much and was very excited. It’s a really difficult time for him right now.”