Ireland rugby union star Niamh Briggs joined us to preview Ireland-Wales this weekend, on Wednesday Night Rugby.

Much of the talk in the run up to Ireland's Six Nations opener has been how to prolong the role of Johnny Sexton, and Briggs believe that a second playmaker is crucial.

Ireland & a second playmaker

"I would love to see us bring a second playmaker in, like a Hugo Keenan," said Briggs.

"It is clearly not going to be coming Bundee at 12, or Robbie Henshaw - I'm not sure it's going to come from there.

"I think it will come from elsewhere, whether it is Ringrose or that full-back role and then that allows us to play with a little more width, which we haven't really done as much."

Keeping the defence honest

So how would that look in practice, is it a case of someone like Keenan taking the ball instead of Sexton?

"You take control out farther; Johnny is really busy trying to manage the forwards and see what is there in front of him, whereas [they] have a way bigger scope.

"You can actually demand the play or the ball in wider channels because you can see where the space is. It is also a case of two sides of attack either side of a ruck, you demand the ball back on the blindside or something like that.

"It keeps the defence very honest; it stops any sort of rush because they don't know where the ball is going. It just allows you to play more heads up, but also get some more players involved.

"I think at the moment, if I am defending against Ireland, I know I have to just defend that pod that is coming around the corner, and defend Johnny. I can rush them and put them under as much pressure as I can because we don't offer a threat anywhere else.

"We can't progress in terms of the world standings if we can't bring other people into the game."

Back row choices

Briggs gave her thoughts on how the back row will line up, and she believes there will be a serious Munster contingent involved.

"I think it could be Pete at 6 and Josh at 7, and then CJ at 8.

"I had great hopes to see [Caelan} Doris play because I thought he was really in brilliant form over the Christmas period. He was really starting to get back to what we know he was good at after that last year.

"His ability to get over the gain line, we don't have many players like that and I would go with Josh van der Flier because I think he is a better all-rounder than Will Connors at the moment.

"I think his game appreciation and knowledge at the breakdown [is better] but also ball in hand, Will Connors is a bit like Dan Lydiate in that he's a great chop tackler. But when they chop tackle, they are gone for the next phase or two, so you have to look at the overall game.

"If Pete is going to be there on the ground then you need someone like Josh out there supporting CJ Stander. "

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