Ronan O'Gara was on 2FM's Game On last night for his weekly dispatch from the continent.
He told Hugh Cahill that one of the key factors in Joe Schmidt choosing Ian Keatley to play out half against Italy over Ian Madigan is the Leinster man playing the majority of his club rugby at inside centre rather than in the number ten shirt.
It's blatantly obvious I think to me that unless you're starting I suppose week in and week out for your club team, you cannot play international rugby, with that in mind you have to be starting week in week out especially in the number 10 position. It's so crucial in terms of managing games and controlling games and it goes up another few notches certainly from Pro12 to Test match.
The combination of Conor Murray and Ian Keatley, something that he's looking for looking for stability, I think they'll look to turn the Italians in the first 30 minutes.
From a coaching point of view, the impact that Madigan brings off the bench and with maybe Tommy O'Donnell is probably interesting.
O'Gara also spoke about about the comfort which Keatley will feel having his provincial teammate Conor Murray at scrum half.
You appreciate these things when he isn't there, because it's not a place to find out in a test match what your nine is doing because these are the things you take for granted.
You go on auto pilot and there's a symmetry between the players. In fairness to the two of them, Duncan Williams has played a bit at nine [for Munster] but it's always been them really. Ever since Ian Keatley came to Munster, it's been Conor Murray who's been the dominant nine. So that is just something that he'll take for granted and he'll go on auto pilot. He can play his game.
Picture credit: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE
