The Independent’s Ruaidhri O’Connor joined Off The Ball for Wednesday Night Rugby to talk about Ciaran Frawley and his move to the number 12.

O’Connor saw the move from flyhalf to inside centre as one of necessity for Leo Cullen, with the loss of some key players in that position.

“Well Joe Tomane left at the end of last season as well, so there is a bit of a vacancy there,” he said.

“They lost Noel Reid to Leicester the previous season, so [Ciaran Frawley] had been their stand in 12.”

Could Ciaran Frawley be an option long term at 12 for Leinster?@RuaidhriOC thinks so.

Full Chat: https://t.co/q9gFnlZlfe@vodafoneIreland #TeamOfUs pic.twitter.com/8K8XUHRHuG

— Off The Ball (@offtheball) September 3, 2020

Leinster opted to rotate their entire starting line-up last week against Ulster, however, O’Connor sees this as a potential permanent move for Frawley.

“Rory O’Loughlin can play 12 and 13, but I think they’re lining Frawley up as a 12 who can play 10 over the next while,” O’Connor said.

“I think he is a very different player to both Conor O’Brien and Robbie Henshaw, who are both very direct players.

“I thought he gave Leinster a different dimension at the weekend that is going to be quite hard to ignore if he keeps replicating that performance.”

On Monday Night Rugby on Off The Ball, former Ireland and Leinster great Brian O’Driscoll had similar words to say about the flyhalf-cum-centre.

“I hadn’t seen a huge amount of Frawley, obviously he plays a lot of the PRO 14 games when Johnny [Sexton] is away or being rested,” O’Driscoll said.

“The problem is, he is third [or] fourth choice now, I’m not entirely sure.

“Maybe he has had a word, or the coaches have realised that they’ve got three pretty good standard number 10s in Sexton and the two Byrnes.

“Maybe we need to make him a second distributor in the 12 jersey.”

O’Driscoll thought that Frawley’s performance was a good start in the position and hopes to see more of him as a second receiver.

“I am excited to see a bit more of Frawley, I wonder if he will make 12 a little bit more of his own position,” he said.

“He has done very well from his outing at the weekend, obviously he got man of the match, but the question marks would have been around his defensive game.

“He didn’t have it all his own way, but I think having a 10 playing in the 12 jersey gives you that second pair of eyes.”

Despite the concerns over his defence at 12, Frawley made 91 percent of his tackles against Ulster and won his side a turnover in the process.

O’Connor saw the combination of the two flyhalves on the night work well for the defending Pro14 champions.

“The way he doubled up with Ross Byrne was excellent, the way he stepped in to play 10,” O’Connor said.

“They always look like a really slick team, like Johnny Sexton has done it before with Owen Farrell [for the B&I Lions].

“I’d love to see in a big game [Frawley] come and do it.”

Ciaran Frawley of Leinster during the Guinness PRO14 Round 15 match between Ulster and Leinster at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

The 22-year-old from Skerries will likely not start ahead of Robbie Henshaw this weekend, but both O’Driscoll and O’Connor think that he is a real option for Leinster there in the future.

“I don’t think he is going to replace Robbie Henshaw this weekend,” O’Connor said.

“But if I was Robbie Henshaw, I’d be a little bit worried about the prospect of Leinster turning towards having a second playmaker.

“It really opens up the way Leinster can play the game.”

The ability to have a second distributor on the pitch with a high-quality pass is what makes O’Driscoll a fan of Frawley playing 12.

“Having that ability to get to the edge with the quality of their passes as well,” he said.

“You look at the passing game of Leinster with all of those 10s, all excellent passers, all on the money.

“It is a bit of an embarrassment of riches.”

With the amount of talent in the extended Leinster squad number of fringe players put up their hands against Ulster last week, including Frawley.

Ciaran Frawley of Leinster takes a conversion during the Guinness PRO14 Round 10 match between Leinster Rugby and Connacht Rugby at RDS Arena in Dublin, Ireland on January 4, 2020 (Photo by Andrew SURMA / SIPA USA).

O’Connor believes that this will play a role in selection ahead of the derby semi-final against Munster on Friday.

“You see people like Hugo Keenan (on the wing), [and] Will Connors I think is pushing big time for a seven shirt,” O’Connor said.

“Frawley did himself absolutely no harm at all when it comes to this weekend last weekend.

“If your whole thing is that you pick on form and players played that well against Ulster having not gone brilliantly against Munster, it is going to be interesting to see if they back any of those guys this weekend.”

The semi-final will kick off at 7:35pm on Friday in an empty Aviva stadium.

Team of Us. Everyone In.

Vodafone. The main sponsor of the Irish Rugby Team