Sean Fitzpatrick: O'Brien was one of the best ever - just ask the players

It was interesting to hear that Paddy O'Brien will retire after the Lions tour and that he mentioned me as one of the formative experiences in his career - saying that I really took him to the cleaners when he was younger.

Paddy is an excellent referee. I think he is still the best in the world and I respect his ability.

I remember his first Ranfurly Shield game when I was playing - it was Auckland against Horowhenua when a young guy by the name of Carlos Spencer played for Horowhenua, as a 16-year-old I think.

I had a beer with Paddy after that game and we had a pretty honest chat, one Irishman to another. I always remember him being pretty much in control and, as a ref, I rate him right up there with the best New Zealand has ever produced, alongside Dave Bishop, Colin Hawke and Keith Lawrence.

Paddy is a players' ref. You can tell from his demeanour on the field that he is enjoying himself as well as doing a job. He likes a chat and doesn't mind having a chip at you if the circumstances demand it. He and Bishop were the best at that and dealing with the on-field pressure.

There were plenty of instances when refs like Paddy and Dave hand it back. I remember one game with Dave when the opposition ball was thrown in crooked. I said: "Aw, Bish - come on, when are you going to do something about this?"

"Fitzy," he said, "It'll be straight for as long as you tell me it's crooked." That stops you short and you think: "Oh, OK."

Paddy is like that too. He says things so you know you can't pull the wool over his eyes.

Paddy refereed my last game - an Auckland-Canterbury clash in Christchurch. It was a game where I realised the opposition were getting away with a lot of things that we used to get away with.

They were chipping at us the whole time, provoking reactions and pulling out all the old tricks.

I remember at one stage ending up on top of Canterbury and All Black hooker Mark Hammett. They gave away a penalty but as I got up, he pulled me down on top of him again and I lashed out. Paddy whistled - and reversed the penalty and gave me a wee chat.

I thought to myself: "Hang on, that's what I used to do. Maybe it really is time to retire."

The best thing is that Paddy enjoyed the game. That rubbed off on the players. You could tell he just wanted a good game of footy.

I am sure the next generation of Paddy O'Briens are on the way in New Zealand and Steve Walsh is of a similar mould. Most New Zealand players would rate Paddy the best in the world but it is not necessarily the same in the UK. They keep harking back to the France-Fiji game in the 1999 World Cup where they felt Paddy cost the Fijians the game.

I think that's just an English thing - they dislike the French.

All you have to do is talk to a player - from any nation - who has been in one of Paddy's games and they will say the man's nature comes through and you can see he is in control, looking for a good game but not being too much of a school-teacher about it. That's the strength of Paddy O'Brien.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY