Johne Murphy: Versatile Ciarán Frawley doesn't have to specialise

Johne Murphy believes Harry Byrne will get the nod over Ciarán Frawley to start at out-half for Leinster in the coming weeks, but says Frawley still has plenty to offer the province as their "jack of all trades".

With an arm injury ruling Ross Byrne out until the new year, Frawley impressed when he replaced him in the early stages of Leinster's win against Munster, before Harry Byrne took the out-half shirt for last Saturday's win over Connacht, while Frawley moved across to full-back.

And while Leinster head coach Leo Cullen says he hasn't made his call yet on who will start at out-half for this Sunday's Investec Champions Cup opener against La Rochelle, Murphy believes Cullen will stick with the younger Byrne brother.

"I think it's going to be Harry Byrne just by reading between the lines, in terms of the fact that Frawley has played in three or four different positions already, he played 15 the other night, and they like that versatility," Murphy told the RTÉ Rugby podcast.

Frawley turned 26 in recent days, but despite playing 74 times for his province there is still a great debate about what his best position is.

The majority of his rugby for Leinster has been played in the centre, while he's also started seven games in the last year at full-back.

In terms of Test rugby, it's believed head coach Andy Farrell sees him as an out-half, featuring for Ireland A in that position against both the Maori All Blacks and an All Black XV,

"It just shows you what one performance has done. People are now asking why doesn't he [Frawley] get an extended run at 10, but people were talking about Harry Byrne like this two years ago, and he's got very little exposure," Murphy added.

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