Life after BOD

Once again the evergreen Brian O’Driscoll gave a faultless performance on Saturday evening in Irelands 40-9 victory over Samoa at the Aviva Stadium. Ireland romped to the win with 2 tries from Dave Kearney as well as tries from Peter O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien and Fergus McFadden. But the moment of the match was O’Driscoll, and his magical piece of skill to set up O’Briens try. His through the legs pass set alight a match that was severely subdued beforehand.

 This is once again an indication of the vast ability that BOD possesses not just to break through defences but also inspire the teammates around him. However the question still remains how Leinster and Ireland are going to replace the 4 time Lions tourist.

It is a fact; O’Driscoll is playing his last season of professional rugby. And it is plain to see that the same question is on every fans lips ‘who is the next number 13?’ For 15 years O’Driscoll has been an ever present from both province and country and has been a constant factor in some of the greatest moments of Irish rugby.

 These moments included him being named player of the tournament in the 2009 Grand Slam winning year as well as being top try scorer in that historic tournament. For all these accolades it is clear that the former Blackrock schoolboys presence, on and off the pitch, will be sorely missed.

There were many attempts by former managers for both Leinster and Ireland to find a replacement for O Driscoll. One of the prime examples of this in recent years was the attempts of Declan Kidney to move Keith Earls from the wing to the centre. But this attempt was unsuccessful for the former Ireland and Munster head coach as Earls simply did not possess the necessary defensive awareness required of a centre.

Regardless of the failings of previous management teams to find a replacement, now is the time to get it right. Brian O’Driscolls tenure in the number 13 for Province and country is coming to an end, so now is the time to weigh up the options. The emerging Brendon Macken, at Leinster, is an extremely promising option.

Another product of Blackrock College, Macken has shown good attacking ability as well as good defensive maturity for someone so young. His performance against the Ospreys for Leinster at the Liberty Stadium showed that Macken has discipline as well as the creativity to unlock a defence.

Another option to look at is Connacht’s Robbie Henshaw. Henshaw has gone from strength to strength at Connacht after making his debut for Ireland in the summer at the tender age of 19. This is something extremely promising for Connacht and Ireland compared to a few years ago where it certainly seemed there would be a massive void in the Irish midfield when BOD finally called it a day. It now seems that although there will never be another O’Driscoll; there is still reason to look forward to the future.