Ireland's 28-8 victory over Scotland today brought about a number of positive talking points, but arguably none more interesting than the options the side now posses at centre.
Before the game a lot was made of the fact that Joe Schmidt has used 25 different centre pairings during his time in charge of Ireland. While that stat may have been seen as a concern prior to kick-off, it's become an incredible advantage for the side considering the performance and result.
Ulster winger Andrew Trimble joined Off The Ball's Nathan Murphy at the Aviva Fan Studio for the game today, and discussed the quality Ireland now have at number 12 and 13, having started Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose with Robbie Henshaw and Chris Farrell ruled out through injury.
"We've got that strength in depth, we've got Bundee playing well and obviously the other guys there as well, so we can cope with one or two injuries. We could never cope like that in the past".
Former Munster scrum-half Tomas O'Leary was also at the Aviva, and noted the impressive nature of Ringrose's performance, considering the 23-year-old has only played six games for Leinster all season, and only playing one game since returning from a lengthy injury absence last month.
"He was fantastic. He's got unbelievable feet, you can see that he can step off either foot. In the first half they created a set piece move to put him into space and he made a 40 or 50 yard break".
"His first big game after a lengthy period out and he made a lot of line breaks and looked like a special player. When the three of those guys are fully fit it's going to be pretty hard to pick a centre partnership".
Trimble wasn't as surprised by Ringrose hitting the ground running, as he believes that the training sessions he's gone through in the past few weeks with Ireland could be even more beneficial than lining out for Leinster in the Guinness Pro 14 due to the intensity of the camp.
"He's obviously been in camp for a couple of weeks, and being coached by Schmidt for a couple of weeks and having a couple of intense sessions with Ireland is similar to getting a a couple of outings for Leinster under your belt".
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
