The Garry Ringrose/Brian O’Driscoll comparisons were always going to be inevitable.
Both went to school in Blackrock College, both attended university at UCD before rising through the Leinster ranks as prodigious, young centres.
Ringrose has been compared to O’Driscoll for years and now that the 22-year-old is sporting the green 13 like the greatest to ever wear it, the comparisons are understandably going to continue.
It’s a lot of pressure to pile on a youngster who is still developing and learning his craft but Ringrose is coping with it admirably.
However it must be growing tiresome for the youngster, and he’s not the only one who is sick of the comparisons as his international captain Rory Best has called for an end to them ahead of Ireland’s second Six Nations tie, against Italy.
“People just want this fantasy that there’s another Brian O’Driscoll out there: there isn’t another Brian O’Driscoll,” Best told Press Association Sport.
“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.”
