Veteran Ireland skipper Brian O'Driscoll has brushed off suggestions that he will retire from international rugby soon as he eyes another chance to make history in New Zealand next year.

O'Driscoll will lead his country in next year's Six Nations tournament in which they will be keen to build on the encouraging form they showed in the World Cup but the biggest test next year will come when they face the All Blacks.

After another World Cup campaign ended in heartache for O'Driscoll and his men they will have another chance to make history when they take the world champion All Blacks on in their back yard.

Ireland will be the first team to play the All Blacks after they lifted the Webb Ellis Cup and O'Driscoll is already licking his lips at the chance to take on the best team in the world.

He told the Irish Independent: "The great thing is that there's always a carrot (first the World Cup, now a first ever All Blacks scalp) there.

"I know it's a three-Test tour down in New Zealand, which is no easy feat, but to be able to go down and hopefully do something that an Irish team hasn't done before excites me and it excites other guys," he said.

The Leinster legend believes he has plenty of gas left in the tank and has not considered hanging up the boots just yet.

"Just because you get to a certain age it's 'oh, he should go now'," O'Driscoll said.

"People were trying to retire me when I was 29 but I still enjoy it too much and still feel as though I have something to offer, and as long as I have something to offer and coaches want to select me, well that combination is important enough for me to continue to play on.

"Maybe I'm not as quick or as sharp as I used to be in the past, but I think I have other attributes that I didn't have back then, so it's about trying to maximise what you do have," he explained.