Brian O’Driscoll had his first stint as a guest presenter on Newstalk’s Off the Ball tonight and took to it like a “duck to water”.
That was the judgement of his colleagues on the show anyway, who tweeted a picture of the rugby legend looking relaxed in studio.
Like a duck to water. Wearing those headphones like a pro. pic.twitter.com/Wee4Fs7Is4
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) September 12, 2014
“It’s great to be here finally,” remarked O’Driscoll, as he was welcomed to the show by regulars Ger Gilroy and Colm Parkinson.
When asked how he felt not to be returning to action with his Leinster teammates O’Driscoll admitted to mixed feelings.
“I haven’t missed pre-season,” he said, “and I haven’t been watching training from behind the trees or anything.”
“The first pang was when seeing the Leinster dressing room on television last week before the match.”
O’Driscoll said it was strange to imagine the pre-match conversations that he was so used to hearing going on without him. He also expected that watching the first big games such as matches against Munster would be tough.
“It’s the derby games, when you know it’s on, that’s what I’ll miss.”
O’Driscoll sent a tweet earlier in the day that suggested he was feeling some pre-show nerves.
First day at work @offtheball #overlykeen pic.twitter.com/UaqFDXNg2O
— Brian O'Driscoll (@BrianODriscoll) September 12, 2014
But on the show he was relaxed and chatty, discussing Jonny Sexton’s move to France and subsequent return.
“It shouldn’t have happened,” was his opinion of the whole saga, but added that there had been a steep learning curve and he felt similar situations would be better handled in the future.
The presenters went on to chat with him about his Ireland and Leinster debuts before England’s Martin Johnson joined the discussion.
The two former greats debated Ireland and England teams past and present and even had a laugh about the infamous “carpetgate” incident in 2003, when Johnson refused to move his team and forced then-president Mary McAleese to walk across the grass to greet his team before a match.
Unsurprisingly Johnson is still unrepentant, commenting to O’Driscoll,
“You could have just stayed(at the other side) and cracked on Brian.”
O’Driscoll finished up soon after, saying: “It’s been fun.”
It was a quiet opening evening for the Leinster and Ireland legend, but one that showed him at ease in the studio and warming up to his new role.
. @BrianODriscoll 's debut with @gergilroy on @offtheball is pretty great so far. Martin Johnson (boo, hiss) is up next
— Luke McManus (@lukemcmanus) September 12, 2014
You can listen back to the show at Newstalk.ie.