Brian O\u2019Driscoll has dismissed comparisons with South Africa, urging fans to \u201clive in the moment\u201d amid the current transitional period in Irish rugby.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve fallen to France<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n The current world number ones and world champions, South Africa<\/a>, are arguably the most in-form side at the moment, but former Ireland captain Brian O\u2019Driscoll believes they should be left to do \u201ctheir own thing\u201d.<\/p>\n Speaking on the\u00a0Off the Ball podcast, the 46-year-old said: \u201cWe can\u2019t concern ourselves with South Africa. They\u2019re doing their own thing over there. We need to concentrate on ourselves and build our strength, and do things our way.<\/p>\n \u201cFive of our Test centurions have retired over the last two years. Generational players, Peter (O\u2019Mahony), (Conor) Murray, (Johnny) Sexton, (Keith) Earls, Cian Healy.<\/p>\n \u201cAny 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Major statement of intent\u2019 as the Bulls lock-in two of the Springboks most promising forwards<\/a><\/p>\n The future of Irish rugby<\/p>\n \u201cI think right now, it\u2019s just challenging to see where the next test centurions are, as they\u2019re 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<\/a> maintaining a very high ranking and get us into World Cup semifinals and finals? <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just quite difficult to see that right now, but maybe we don\u2019t need to see that. Maybe we just need to live in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Ireland arguably are not quite as strong as they once were, there\u2019s certainly some positivity to be taken from the recent results.<\/p>\n \u201cThese 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. <\/p>\n \u201cBut 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.\u201d<\/p>\n