Ronan O’Gara has no doubt about Garry Ringose and Robbie Henshaw’s potential

The partnership can only get better.

After a topsy-turvy Six Nations, which included some terrible lows mixed with some dizzying highs, you could not blame some people for looking back with a level of regret and disappointment. Such is the standard and esteem which we hold this Irish rugby team to. However, one must be realistic, and there are many positives which can be taken from the last seven weeks of Test rugby action. Going into the tournament, some people almost expected that the centre partnership of Leinster teammates, Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose, would fire on all cylinders almost immediately. Of course, this proved not to be the case as the two were guilty of some defensive malfunctions throughout the tournament. But it must also be taken into consideration that it was the first time these two have played in midfield together at Test match level and there is a big difference between that and playing for your province. We did see an excellent defensive performance from the duo in the final game against England and this will breed confidence when looking into the future as they kept a side who had just put 60+ points on Scotland a week previously, scoreless at the Aviva Stadium. In fact, they also kept Jonathan Joseph quiet throughout the game, after his blistering hat-trick the week before. Ronan O'Gara was speaking on the latest episode of The Hard Yards where he asked his opinion on the hype surrounding Ringrose and the comparison with Brian O'Driscoll.

"Even people beginning to make comparisons, I think that says everything about the young fella. There is definitely some similarities in their body shapes, I think in terms of their low centre to gravity," O'Gara said.

O'Gara then has the opinion that the public may look, unfairly at times, at the things which he does wrong before outlining the fact that outside centre is probably the most difficult position in rugby, from a defensive point of view at least.

"He's really exciting, I don't know if it's an Irish thing but are people looking to find faults with him as opposed to highlighting what he's really good at and what makes a difference. "13 is probably the hardest position to play in international rugby in terms of defending...three attackers at each given time, you have to have such decision-making capacities and that will come with experience too."

The Cork man then finishes off with a prediction which will undoubtedly prove exciting to both Ireland and Leinster fans alike.

"I think those two will go to a whole new level in 20 Tests."

We certainly hope they do and Ireland could well have a world-class centre partnership by the time they reach the 2019 World Cup in Japan. You can listen to O'Gara's opinion from about 11 minutes below.