Former Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll thinks Munster fans must believe in their current squad and stop comparing their fly-halves to Ronan O’Gara.
Speaking on Thursday’s Off the Ball, O’Driscoll praised the Munster team, despite their 27-25 defeat to Leinster at the Aviva Stadium last Saturday.
O’Driscoll believes JJ Hanrahan is a very worthy backup fly-half and Munster need to stop comparing their number 10s to the legendary Ronan O’Gara.
“The Munster fan base have to forget Ronan O’Gara," said the former Ireland captain.
"JJ Hanrahan and Joey Carbery are not Ronan O’Gara. They are not the same type of player.
“I would never characterise ROG as a kicking number 10, but he had the ball on a string.
"Neither of those players have those kicking capabilities. They could practice for hours and they mightn’t get to the standards that ROG could.
“So, they have to focus on their skill-sets and that’s a running game rather than kicking the ball behind teams.”
O’Driscoll said that Munster have to face the reality that Hanrahan is currently their only option at ten, but a good option.
“Munster today do not have the same pack that played in front of ROG, so they have to have a flexibility to their game depending on who they’re key playmakers are.
“JJ’s strength is his running game and his passing game. He needs to hone his kicking game but there are a lot of good things to pick from his performance.
"It was only a two-point game and Munster still could’ve snatched it. I thought JJ had a big say in bringing Munster back into the game.
"There is currently a lot of pressure on him with Joey’s continue absence, so I think it was a good performance for a first outing.”
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