Leinster fly-half Ian Madigan says he is perfectly satisfied to play at 12 for club and country, but that ultimately he still has an eye on the No 10 shirt.
He was speaking to Off The Ball tonight about his season so far and touched on an issue that has been debated long and hard by pundits.
"If I played 10 years at 12 for Leinster and Ireland, I'd have no complaints. But it's no secret that out-half is my preferred position. Even if I'm getting picked in the centre, I'd still be working hard on the importance of playing out-half. I'm certainly not frustrated playing in the centre far from it," he said, admitting that it can be frustrating to be moved to new positions late in the week and that he has an eye on a starting place in the Six Nations.
He also suggested that inside centre is a good position to audition for the role at 10.
"I'm lucky to play the game that I love and it's either up to Matt [O'Connor] or Joe [Schmidt] to pick me at out-half, centre or full-back," he said.
"The way I look at it, I'm a rugby player. If I'm picked at 12, I'm still going out there to execute the basics - be it passing, tackling place-kicking and whatever it might be. You can still showcase the core things an out-half does from the centre. I do really enjoy playing 12."
The 25-year-old looked back on Saturday's win against Castres and spoke about the issues that were plaguing the province in recent months.
"Our set piece wasn't going brilliantly for us. We struggled a small bit in the scrum, off line out and it was something there was a mass improvement on on Saturday," he said.
Madigan and Jamie Heaslip celebrate winning a late penalty to end the game against Australia last November ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
"The other side of it is trusting yourself to throw that extra pass. From not scoring tries, you can tighten up and get a bit nervy within yourself."
Madigan also spoke about life off the pitch and the amount of rugby he would watch in his spare time as he tries to learn more to improve his own game.
"Being an out-half or a centre, you're getting the ball 25 or 30 times a game. You need to know, for example, if Luke Fitzgerald's outside you, you can throw the ball as hard as you can but one of your front row, you've got to know to be sympathetic with your pass," he said, adding that he meets sports psychologist Enda McNulty monthly to talk about dealing with pressure but said he has always had good self-belief.
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