The lads on RTÉ are going to have to up their game.
No McGurk, no Hook, and now another living legend defecting to a British broadcaster.
The national broadcaster could handle Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy pitching up on ITV as the channel has limited reach in the Republic of Ireland, but the BBC have landed the motherload for Saturday’s coverage of France and Ireland in the Six Nations.
That’s right, Paul O’Connell will be joining Gabby Logan, Keith Wood and Thomas Castaignede to analyse the second game of Ireland’s Six Nations defence in Stade de France.
It is quite a coup for BBC1, given it will likely be O’Connell’s first television appearance since announcing his retirement on Tuesday morning.
It will be fascinating to hear O’Connell’s take on Joe Schmidt’s side – men he was battling with as recently as this season’s World Cup before he suffered his career-ending hamstring injury in the final pool game against Saturday’s opponents.
More interesting again will be his efforts to keep his passion in check… we don’t need him putting the fear of god into Castaignede live on TV.
