Brian O’Driscoll has dismissed comparisons with South Africa, urging fans to “live in the moment” amid the current transitional period in Irish rugby.
Ireland have struggled to regain their aura of world dominance since being dumped from the quarter finals of the World Cup in 2023. Many of their top players have exited the international and club arena since their devastating loss to New Zealand, and as a result, their form has been inconsistent since.
They’ve fallen to France, New Zealand, South Africa and England in the two years since, which is particularly concerning considering that before their World Cup exit, they were on a 17-match winning streak that dated to the second Test against the All Blacks in the summer of 2022.
The current world number ones and world champions, South Africa, are arguably the most in-form side at the moment, but former Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll believes they should be left to do “their own thing”.
Speaking on the Off the Ball podcast, the 46-year-old said: “We can’t concern ourselves with South Africa. They’re doing their own thing over there. We need to concentrate on ourselves and build our strength, and do things our way.
“Five of our Test centurions have retired over the last two years. Generational players, Peter (O’Mahony), (Conor) Murray, (Johnny) Sexton, (Keith) Earls, Cian Healy.
“Any team that loses five of their players is gonna impact you significantly, so maybe we need to cut ourselves a little bit of slack as the integration of new players comes through.”
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“I think right now, it’s just challenging to see where the next test centurions are, as they’re making their early Test debuts and building their confidence at that level. Are we looking at guys who are going to be around for 10/12 years that are going to be mainstays, and are they gonna contribute to Ireland maintaining a very high ranking and get us into World Cup semifinals and finals?
“It’s just quite difficult to see that right now, but maybe we don’t need to see that. Maybe we just need to live in the moment.”
Although Ireland arguably are not quite as strong as they once were, there’s certainly some positivity to be taken from the recent results.
“These guys are still winning Test matches, still scored 41 points against Japan, who played well, and we were disappointed with how many scores we left out there. Just take the next game that comes, which will be challenging against Australia.
“But if you can build your performance and build the attack shape and give yourself confidence, I think all the supporters will come along with that.”