Brian O’Driscoll advises Paul O’Connell to consider move to France

The sound of a pin being pulled from the grenade

Brian O'Driscoll has waded into the transfer saga that is beginning to develop around Paul O'Connell this evening with comments on Newstalk's Off the Ball. The Munster man is being heavily linked with a late career switch to Toulon, with rumour and counter-rumour swirling around the Ireland captain over the last few weeks. Despite his insistence that he is happy in Ireland, the speculation linking the Limerick man to a role with the Top 14 side won't go away. The former Ireland centre was heavily linked with moves abroad himself, and he feels that O'Connell would be foolish if he didn't take up the opportunity of testing himself in a different country,

'If I was him, it would be the perfect opportunity to spend eight months down the south of France, play with an unbelievable team. He's got a young family and people that say he'll do the legendary status down in Munster, I would rubbish that thought.'

O'Driscoll,who retired almost 12 months ago,feels that the Ireland captain should put any thoughts of quitting the sport to the back of his mind. O'Driscoll's retirement was a media circus for the final months of his career at provincial and international level, and he feels that the Munster legend should be able to play on after the World Cup,

"He said it himself that if you feel you are capable of still playing, go for another one. I'm glad I went for the extra one as much as it was dragged out from a press point of view. I was delighted that I played it, not just because there was success at the end of it, but because I would have felt that I'd left too much in the tank if I'd gone the year previously. You just get the sense because Paul's playing so well because he was arguably Ireland's Six Nations player of the tournament, he just looks in phenomenal condition too.'

H/T to Newstalk