Brian O'Driscoll reveals Ciaran Frawley 'request' which contradicts 'narrative' after high-profile Leinster exit

Ireland and Leinster legend Brian O’Driscoll has claimed that Ciaran Frawley wanted to play centre rather than fly-half before deciding to head to Connacht in the summer.

There was disappointment in Dublin when the 28-year-old decided to end his stay at the Irish giants and join their provincial rivals in Galway.

The thought was that Frawley wanted to feature at fly-half having been denied that chance at Leinster but, according to O’Driscoll, that was not the case.

During the 2025/26 campaign, the playmaker did not start a game at 10 for Leo Cullen’s men, but the former Ireland captain has suggested that the province was simply just following the request of the player.

Frawley’s ‘request’

“It’s really interesting to see Frawley going to Connacht as a 10, it’s my understanding that last year it was his request to play a bit more 12 rather than 10,” he told Off The Ball, before the host pointed out that it was “opposite to the narrative”.

O’Driscoll responded, “it is” and added: “Maybe there was an identification that there was a spot to be had. Stu McCloskey is obviously the man in situ at 12 with Ireland and with Bundee [Aki] very much in the winter of his career, maybe he felt that was an opportunity as a second distributor, which he’s been very effective at, at times.

“I know there were conversations with Ulster before deciding to go across to Stuart Lancaster with Connacht.

“Sometimes there’s a bit of a guessing game going on and then you find out a little bit of intel and you go, ‘oh, we were way off’.

“As squads, sometimes they might listen to us and go, ‘they have no clue’, but we’ve got no way of knowing unless you’re told or unless someone has a whisper in your ear.”

Frawley made an impressive start to his Connacht career by scoring two tries on debut against Benetton last weekend.

The playmaker has retained his spot for their encounter with Glasgow Warriors where he will look to lay down another marker ahead of the Nations Championship.

The 28-year-old is already in Andy Farrell’s thoughts for the Ireland 10 jersey having featured in all three games in July and a good run of form could see him usurp Sam Prendergast.

The key thing for Frawley ahead of Nations Championship

“What is interesting now is Frawley going and he’s going to be playing 10 by the looks of things. [Josh] Ioane’s at 15 this weekend, [Sam] Gilbert’s not playing, so the goal-kicking component is going to be all-important if he wants to nail down the 10 jersey for Ireland,” O’Driscoll said.

“I don’t know whether he saw his ability to impact games better in the 12 jersey than the 10, you’d have to think he was wrong if he did think that based on last weekend’s performance because I thought he was really, really good.

“We just need to see a longer piece of what Ciaran Frawley in a Connacht green jersey looks like.

“They’ll be some tough days coming his way and how he deals with ball on the back foot is going to be all-important because they’ll be games for Ireland that he’ll find himself in that position.

“How he manages the team in a particular game when it’s not all going their way will be of real interest to the Irish coaching ticket.”