Ronnie O’Sullivan ‘changed the game’ of snooker with one shot, says Shaun Murphy

Ronnie O’Sullivan ‘changed the game’ of snooker early in his career by taking on a shot that few players did then, but now every professional practices regularly, believes Shaun Murphy.

Sometimes called a ‘recovery blue’ because a player has strayed from ideal position, the shot in question sees the blue potted to a baulk corner pocket.

It is a common shot in the modern game, but did not used to be, as Phil Yates explained on commentary during the Championship League on FreeSports, saying: ‘One aspect of the game that has vastly improved is the recovery blue.

‘So many players knock it in now as if it’s simple, but we all know it’s a real examination of cueing.’

Former world champion Murphy explained that it was the Rocket that turned the shot from a rarity into standard practice 30 years ago.

‘It was O’Sullivan, really, that started it in the early 90s,’ said the Magician. ‘He was the one that first, if he finished near the pink spot somewhere, he’d just get down and pot the blue.

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‘Of course players had done it before, but not with the regularity that he started doing it and the ease with which he started doing it.

‘It’s changed the game. We talk about [Stephen] Hendry changing the game with break-building, pot the blue, split off the pink into the reds, but O’Sullivan changed it again with that long blue into a baulk pocket.

‘It’s a shot now that every professional player practices regularly and comes up so often.’

Famously part of the Class of 92 alongside John Higgins and Mark