There is so much mystique surrounding Joe Schmidt's coaching methods that it is easy to believe that players just blindly follow his orders - in fact, one heroic tabloid sub-editor nicknamed the players 'Joebots' last year.
But if there is one player who is equipped to talk back to Mr Schmidt when he presents the latest lesson plan, surely it is Ireland's greatest ever rugby player? Not so, it seems.
Speaking on Off the Ball last night, Brian O'Driscoll admitted that even with his stature within the squad he had to 'pick his moments' when challenging his coach.
Most of us just wait until we are drunk at the Christmas party to tell our boss what we really think of them.
I picked my moments, I knew that I had to be 85/90pc right in my thoughts and in my thinking of what ideas I wanted to get across if I wanted to challenge a concept he had come up with.
I would always make sure that if I did have a point, that I wanted to challenge with him that there was a fair bit of theory and substance behind in what I was thinking.
There’s a little bit of the school teacher that you are a small but afraid of and it still remains the same. I meet him every so often and I’d still be a small bit on edge, making sure I have all my ducks in a row and know what I’m talking about.
That does sound a bit daunting but also an important indicator of Ireland's success. In Schmidt's environment, players need to really immerse themselves in both the game plan and the game itself if they want to raise points about how the team should play - that can only benefit Ireland going forward.
Andy Farrell's forthright nature has been talked about a lot since his appointment as defence coach and interestingly, O'Driscoll thinks that serves as a good counter-point to the reserved nature of the other assistants.
I don’t know what kind of coach Simon Easterby is, I haven’t been coached by him, and with the greatest of respect to Richie Murphy and Greg Feek, they are not people that would be confrontational to Joe’s way of thinking.
You can listen to O'Driscoll on Off The Ball below.
