Bernard Jackman believes Ciarán Frawley deserves an opportunity to stake his claim for the Leinster starting out-half jersey while Ross Byrne is sidelined.
Byrne has been ruled out of Saturday's BKT United Rugby Championship interpro fixture against Connacht (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player as well as RTÉ Radio 1 Extra) after sustaining an arm injury early in last week's victory over Munster at the Aviva Stadium.
Frawley replaced him for the remainder of that 21-16 win and writing in his RTÉ Sport column, former Munster out-half Jonny Holland had opined that perhaps "this is the perfect time to back him and test his credentials to become (Johnny) Sexton's successor".
Speaking on RTÉ's Game On, Jackman suggested that if Frawley "got a run of games in the same position, he can become a serious, serious, player for Leinster and Ireland".
However, he has plenty of competition for a starting place with Sam Prendergast and Harry Byrne other options to fill in at 10 this weekend and potentially into the start of a busy period as European commitments arrive on the horizon, starting with a trip to Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle on 10 December.
"(Leo Cullen) could go with Harry Byrne or could go with Sam Prendergast and Ciarán Frawley could play in the centre or full-back potentially or even be on the bench as a utility back. But I think Ciarán Frawley deserves a chance to start," Jackman said.
"He has had an unbelievable bad run of luck with injuries over the last three or four years. But all the coaches who worked with him, whether it was (Stuart) Lancaster or whether it was Joe Schmidt, Andy Farrell as well - he was in the Ireland training squad for most of the summer - they all see a serious level of ability and now he is fit.
"He came off the bench after five minutes against Munster and I thought he had a really good game and I think he deserves a crack while Ross is injured.
"Obviously, when Ross comes back, he has to be given a shot at it. But Frawley has huge upside and I would love to see him play. I think if he plays, it increases Leinster's chance of winning."
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