"Whatever he got in his contract, he deserves every cent of it" said Brian O'Driscoll of Ian Madigan's decision to make the move to the Top 14.
Leinster announced today that Madigan will depart the province for Bordeaux at the end of the season.
When speculation began regarding Madigan's future, Munster was mentioned as a possible destination.
For O'Driscoll, this was never on.
It never really felt like a viable option for a couple of reasons.
One, because I really didn't think that he was Munster's type of player. When I say that, not every club has to have a type of player. But in pivotal positions, I think, clubs go for a certain type of player. You look at Leinster, they've gone for Felipe Contepomi in the past, probably of the Ian Madigan ilk.
Whereas Munster have had players like ROG for 15 years. He was a lot more structured to his play, as much as he played heads up, he definitely had those structures in place to get the best out of his forward pack and his team in general.
So for that reason, I didn't really seen Ian going [to Munster].
O'Driscoll also offered a second, slightly tongue-in-cheek reason why the move to Thomond Park would not have worked.
Just as they differed in playing style, a change to an out-half with the 'high and tight' hairstyle of Madigan would be too much of a departure from the 'mushroom' cut of ROG.
In terms of the player Bordeaux have acquired, O'Driscoll belives him to be a top class goalkicker who will draw strong home crowd.
Bordeaux are getting a fantastic, high-end goalkicker. A guy that likes fast, running rugby and will play what he sees. If it's on behind his own goalline, he'll go. So, his backline better be ready.
Without a shadow of a doubt, he'll win them games on his own. He might lose them the odd game too but that loose style he has is pretty entertaining, so he'll get plenty of bums on seats.
You can watch O'Driscoll give his take below.
Video via BrianODriscoll.com
