Rugby News

Rugby Legend speaks to Ryan Tubridy about transition from star player to analyst

October 8, 2024

Brian O’Driscoll has spoken about how he navigates the challenge of commentating on games involving former teammates.

The rugby legend is the second guest to appear on Season two of Ryan Tubridy’s podcast, ‘The Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy’.

Speaking to Ryan Tubridy, O’Driscoll noted that a lot of his really good friends had retired before becoming an analyst but with friends who were still playing, there were ways of giving a message which were “fair but to the point.”

In the case of Johnny Sexton, he said: “thankfully his play didn’t necessitate too much negative feedback” and he gave an example of how he might describe a pass from Sexton as “very uncharacteristic” rather than “poor”.

He said “as an analyst I’m never trying to put the boot in. You’re trying to be as soft as you can but you’re also trying not to be disingenuous to your role. Some people need delicate handling….others you can be a little bit more honest but don’t be mean.”

O’Driscoll also spoke of how difficult he found aspects of being captain of the Irish Rugby Team including the stress he felt at public speaking and talking to team mates at captain’s meetings on the evenings before Irish games….”that was some of the hardest parts of the captaincy I found”.

On his retirement from Rugby, O’Driscoll described the transition from being a professional player as “really challenging”; “years two, three and four I found difficult”. He joked that he found himself wanting “players 1 – 12 and 14 – 15 to go really well but 13 (his former position) doesn’t have to be killing it”.

“We’re so lucky as professional athletes….you really are living the dream. It’s an exceptional life that not everyone gets to live but sometimes it doesn’t dawn on you till after the fact how great that time was and how enjoyable it was.”

The second season of The Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy began a week ago with An Taoiseach, Simon Harris as the first guest of the season.

Season One launched in April of this year and guests included Doireann Garrihy, Anthony Horowitz, David Walliams, Brian Cox, Marian Keyes, Andrea Corr, Noel Fitzpatrick and Vogue Williams.

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