Brian O'Driscoll feels Joey Carbery's emergence as a second receiver from full back is a strong suit for Leinster going forward.
The province have reached the European Champions Cup semi finals after beating Wasps on Saturday with 21 year old Carbery among the shining lights.
With opposition teams targeting Jonathan Sexton in every match, O'Driscoll told Off The Ball that Carbery provides another excellent outlet as a second receiver.
"I think it's even more crucial in a team where Johnny Sexton is the 10 with the amount of targeting that goes on," he said.
"So you need someone else to step in and a lot of the time it's the 12 and Robbie Henshaw is learning to do that.
"It's a Stuart Lancaster aspect as well where he wants his 15 coming in and not playing as second last receiver of the ball from his centres. He wants him getting in left and right."
O'Driscoll's former Ireland and Leinster team-mate Eoin Reddan also praised Carbery's game intelligence.
"Joey is one of those guys who is able to assess those situations, know when to carry straight when there isn't support there with him, know when to deliver a great pass because he has the vision to see it and knows when to beat someone," said Reddan.
"All in all, he had a massive game. It was probably the biggest start of his career so far and it was at home in front of the home fans at the Aviva. And he is playing very well.
"I think he'll be absolutely delighted and so will Leo [Cullen]. It does open options for Joey going forward in terms of being able to play 10 and full back and I think they've obviously spent a lot of time developing him.
"Twelve months ago he played in the AIL final which is also great for the AIL and shows how much can be done in a year and how much has gone in with the young lads and before you see them. That's probably the most important time because when they come out, you don't get too many second chances. So it's great to see a guy come out of that system and playing like Joey is playing now as opposed to coming out and people giving the guy two chances and writing him off."
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