Rory Best says Garry Ringrose and Brian O'Driscoll should not be compared
Thursday 9 February 2017 13:52, UK
Rory Best insists Garry Ringrose needs time to realise his potential at Test level and should not be compared to Brian O’Driscoll.
With Ulster's Jared Payne ruled out of the Six Nations with a kidney injury, the highly-touted Ringrose was handed the opportunity to win his fourth Ireland cap in the 27-22 defeat to Scotland on Saturday.
The Leinster back, who started at outside centre, was part of an Ireland defence that were guilty of defending too narrowly at times in the first half against the Scots, with Stuart Hogg making them pay on two occasions as he crossed for tries.
Best believes comparisons to former Leinster legend O'Driscoll place unrealistic expectations on Ringrose's inexperienced shoulders, and do little to help the 22-year-old.
"People just want this fantasy that there's another Brian O'Driscoll out there: there isn't another Brian O'Driscoll," Best said.
"There's another great, young guy, who happens to be from Dublin who happens to play 13 - but he's not going to be exactly the same.
"There are some things Garry doesn't do as well as Drico, but there are other things he could potentially do better than Drico. He has to be his own player.
"I think people often want to draw similarities: people saw Drico thrown in as a 20-year-old so they say, 'Let's do that with Garry'.
"But the game's very different now as well. You've got to give this guy a chance as Joe (Schmidt) has done, and now he's reaping the benefits of it.
"Joe brought him into training and let him get his bearings and learn a little bit behind the scenes, and that's definitely paid off."
