THEY MIGHT NOW be interprovincial rivals following the latter’s summer move out west, but Jimmy O’Brien was nonetheless thrilled to see Ciarán Frawley coming up with a big moment for Connacht last Friday night.

After accumulating 123 appearances and 333 points for Leinster from 2018 to 2026, Frawley made the switch to Connacht for the start of the current season. Under the guidance of former Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster, the Skerries man scored a brace of tries on his debut for the western province against Benetton in round two of the United Rugby Championship at Stadio Monigo in Treviso – including a 77th minute five-pointer that turned a potential defeat into a 22-19 victory.

In addition to featuring alongside him on several occasions in the blue jersey – as well as a number of times for Ireland at international test level – O’Brien is also quite close to Frawley off the pitch. He understands his former provincial colleague had a desire to establish himself as an out-half away from the Leinster set-up and is confident he can do just that as the season progresses.

“I was delighted. Me and him would be very good friends, very good mates. We’d always room together. I was delighted he played so well at the weekend and hopefully it goes well this year. He’s a brilliant player, he’s an unbelievable player. He probably just wanted time playing 10, but I was delighted. Hopefully he goes well this year,” O’Brien remarked at a media briefing in Leinster Rugby HQ earlier this week.

While Frawley is noted for his versatility after also starting at inside centre and full-back on a regular basis for Leinster in the past, O’Brien is capable of covering a number of positions himself for the eastern province. In addition to a dozen starts at outside centre, the Kildare man has also been used across the back-three by Leinster head coach Leo Cullen.

This has helped him to make the first 15 for some massive games, including the Blues’ back-to-back European Champions Cup final defeats to La Rochelle in 2022 and 2023, as well as their United Rugby Championship showpiece triumph over the Bulls at Croke Park in June 2025.

Jimmy O'Brien and Ciarán Frawley. Inpho Inpho

Yet despite appearing to be in decent form when he was selected last season, O’Brien missed out on the match day 23 for their Champions Cup and URC decider appearances against Bordeaux Begles and the Bulls respectively at the end of the campaign.

This was unsurprisingly a source of frustration for the former U20s and 7s international, but O’Brien acknowledges speaking to the Leinster coaches when he does miss out on game time helps to leave him ‘at peace’.

“When you’re not selected, I go and ask the coaches what more can I do or what you want from me and why am I not [in the team]. They give you reasons and that’s fair enough. You just have to try and play it.

“I take it as ‘Okay, I thought I was playing pretty well towards the end of last season when I was playing’. So I’m like, ‘If I keep that up, I’ll make it harder for them and I’ll get picked for these games’. Leo was good in fairness, I had missed out on whatever and he didn’t pick me.

“He was like ‘Look, you’re getting a chance next week’. I was like ‘Okay, I’ve made the most of it’. I felt like I was playing well at the end of last season when I was getting chances, so that was all I could do. I was kind of at peace with it, if you get me.”

The former Newbridge College student had clearly done enough over the course of his 18 outings for Leinster last season to capture the attention of Ireland head coach Andy Farrell, who handed him starts in all three games his side played during the Nations Championship Southern Hemisphere Series in the summer.

This was a major confidence boost for O’Brien and it has left him in an upbeat mood for the new campaign. After sitting out the two games Leinster played in South Africa against the Lions and the Sharks over the past fortnight, O’Brien and a plethora of his international team-mates are back in the starting line-up for this evening’s return to the RDS Arena (now known as the Laya Arena) following a two-year absence in a URC bout with Cardiff.

“I was pretty delighted with how it went [with Ireland]. Obviously frustrating in the last game with the result, but I started all three games. Heading in I wasn’t really sure what game time I was going to get, so to start all three games I was delighted. Hopefully this season I can stay injury free and kick on from that,” O’Brien added.