The inspirational Munster lock is a contender for the Lions captaincy this summer, but after his testing recovery from back surgery, he would be happy just to be on the plane
There have been many moments when, for Paul O'Connell, it seemed as if this slow and testing season would end in blank disappointment. Last year came to a close, on the final day of 2012, with O'Connell being wheeled into theatre for surgery on a bulging disc in his lower back. New Year's Day marked the start of his rehabilitation in a laborious process that curbed all his hopes and thoughts of the Heineken Cup and this summer's Lions tour to Australia.
The giant but softly-spoken lock forward, who has won European rugby's premier club competition twice before with Munster, and led the Lions in South Africa four years ago, knew that only doubt and worry could be seen clearly in the distance. And so he worked on taking small steps into the near future.
Every night, in the worst of winter, he pulled on his trainers and tracksuit. O'Connell plugged in his headphones, lifted his hood and went out for his healing walk. He is too self-contained to have felt lonely as he trudged into the blackness. Anyway, his walk was usually preceded by a quiet rap on the door.
"That'll be Quinny," O'Connell would murmur to his wife, Emily. Their young son, Paddy, had been put down to bed hours before. But it was time for O'Connell's nightly ritual.
Alan Quinlan, his former Munster team-mate, retired from rugby two years ago but he wanted to help Paulie – his close friend in a fire-breathing pack of Munster men. And so, night after night, Paulie and Quinny would walk streets that were deserted but for a few stray teenagers spooked by the sight of two hooded and hulking figures moving with such deliberate calm.
Stretched out in a discreet corner of a restaurant on the edge of Limerick, with the early afternoon sunshine streaming through the dark clouds still scudding outside, O'Connell looks amused now. He is playing again and preparing for Saturday's Heineken Cup semi-final in Montpellier against Clermont Auvergne. O'Connell's imperious display was central to Munster's surprise defeat of Harlequins, at the home of the English champions in the quarter-finals this month. O'Connell was so commanding that his place in the Lions squad was presumably sealed – and increased the debate about who will lead them in Australia.
"I've never seen more hype and speculation about a tour in all my life than this Lions selection," O'Connell says. "I'd love to be on the plane but I'm trying to ignore the speculation."
Even when pressed to outline his private ambitions more fiercely, O'Connell prefers a wry grin. "Look, I'd love to go but it's a tough situation when you're coming back and you didn't play in the autumn or in the Six Nations. I suppose the line I'm peddling is that I'm going to be fresh."
O'Connell breaks into a rumbling laugh. "I've played five and a half games this season," he says, "so freshness is my selling point at the moment."
His warmth and gravitas, as much as his hardened experience and excellence, mark out more meaningful "selling points" for Warren Gatland, the Lions coach, to consider as his captaincy shortlist boils down to Brian O'Driscoll, Sam Warburton and O'Connell. O'Driscoll's qualities have long been obvious and he led O'Connell and the 2005 Lions on their seemingly fated tour of New Zealand. But, now, O'Driscoll's body is battered at the end of his career. Warburton was chosen as Wales' captain by Gatland before the 2011 World Cup but a dip in form meant he briefly lost his place during this season's Six Nations. He appears resurgent and the bookmakers' favourite – but the young Welshman had to play out of position to regain his backrow place during a stunning demolition of England.
O'Connell, meanwhile, simply concentrates on playing well again, and inspiring all around him. He is also driven by a desire to make up for the agonising 2-1 series defeat when he captained the Lions against the Springboks. "The 2009 result was heartbreaking but it was such an enjoyable tour. We worked very hard at becoming a team – socialising quite a bit together – and the way the management brought us together was very astute. I was proud of my team because it was probably the most intense rugby of my life. Some of the best players in the world were really playing great and, emotionally, it meant so much to both teams. We came so close."
In his typically modest way he downplays his extraordinary recovery this season. "I was fairly positive before the operation. I'd seen the scans and they didn't look bad. All the experts were of the opinion that it would be simple enough. You never know for certain but once the operation was out of the way there was light at the end of the tunnel. Before that it was a case of conservatively managing the problem. You wake up every day hoping you'll be all right."
Was he in a lot of pain before surgery? "I really wasn't," O'Connell says, shaking his head as if he can't believe it. "That's the strange thing. In ordinary daily life I was fine. I could pick up my boy with no problem. It was just when I went into real physical contact that I'd seize up. If I was working in an office I probably would not even have noticed."
O'Connell's capacity to absorb pain is different to ordinary office workers. Yet he concedes that, "with back injuries the nerve pain lingers. Essentially, you've had something rubbing against your nerves a long time. So if you take that away during surgery the nerves are still frayed, bruised and a little torn. You have nerve pain for a while."
Despite the hurt, it was imperative that O'Connell stuck to his nightly walking routine. "Part of it is that you have to walk from early on," he says. "After the operation I'd spend the day in bed, reading or watching TV, as you have to do. Then I would have to go out for my walk. The pain was OK. We started with five minutes and then 10 minutes and so on. Quinny lives in the same estate as me and he's a nocturnal creature. Even last night he turned up at a quarter to 10. So he used to come for a stroll with me and we'd shoot the breeze."
O'Connell makes it sound so simple. But he talks openly when asked to explain the darker thoughts that flitted through his head. "My big worry," he admits, "is that I'm in the front five where fitness and work-rate are important. With every passing month you worry about your conditioning and sharpness. That was frustrating and the big worry for me. I knew I could get back by such-and-such a date but I was less certain whether I'd have the same intensity. But I never had a planned date until we won the Racing Métro game and made the quarter-finals. That was two weeks after my op and the quarter-final was 11 weeks away. So that became a real possibility – and a target."
No-one who has met him before would have been surprised that O'Connell met his target. He came back in low-key games for Munster A and Young Munster before playing his first proper match against Connacht. He was voted man of the match. The next severe test loomed. It came in a Pro12 game against Glasgow which turned into humiliation. Munster slumped to a record 51-24 defeat – a week before they faced Harlequins.
O'Connell furrows his brow when asked to describe his mood before that away quarter-final. "I would have been the least positive about a Munster team in a very long time. I had a fear it would turn out similar to the Glasgow game. It could've been a really, really tough day – not just a narrow loss but a rough day. We had a massive fear in the squad as to what might happen if we didn't perform."
He is more jocular when glossing over the way in which he helped galvanise Munster. "I wouldn't say we started spectacularly well. I missed the first kick-off! But after that we got a good foothold and then had a great start in the second half. Once ahead we were able to keep the lead by playing 'no mistakes' rugby. Harlequins had to chase the game and they didn't produce their best performance of the season by a long shot."
O'Connell, meanwhile, was praised to the point of embarrassment for the big man. His coach, Rob Penney, crooned, "He's wonderful. He makes everyone around him feel good. You couple that with his rugby ability and he's just a complete man." Conor O'Shea, Harlequins' coach, described O'Connell as "absolutely majestic" and "the totem their whole team rose around." Ian McGeechan, who chose O'Connell as his 2009 Lions captain, said the 33-year-old was "unbelievable".
"Look," O'Connell almost blushes, "the ball came my way a little bit at times. I was delighted personally because, not being 100%, I was worried beforehand. But I was really more delighted for the team. The young guys were under real pressure and, afterwards, they felt, 'Hey, we really are good enough to carry that Munster mantle.'"
He was tested again the following week after controversy erupted near the end of a league game against Leinster when, aiming to kick the ball, his boot connected with Dave Kearney's head. Intense speculation ensued that O'Connell would be cited for foul play – and miss this weekend's semi-final.
"It was completely unintentional," O'Connell says. "My sole focus was on the ball but I fully understand the hassle about it because it doesn't look great in the video. Dave was carried off and he missed playing this [past] weekend and he's worked hard to get into the Leinster team. That's disappointing. I can also understand the debate about whether I should've been cited or even suspended but I know in my own head my focus was on the ball. As soon as it happened I went to him straightaway. I hope people know it wasn't intentional."
O'Connell is now clear to play against Clermont and his appreciation of the task is plain. "French teams at home are just incredible – and Clermont seem more incredible than the rest of them. They have a fantastic squad and incredibly hard-working players. Some of their tries this season have been amazing. And any team that goes to the Aviva and does what they did to Leinster is a serious side. So it's going to be very tough and we'll be massive underdogs again. But if we can do things right, like against Harlequins, and we get the bounce of the ball, we have a great chance."
We keep talking long after our interview is over and O'Connell's wider interest in sport, and life, is obvious. He asks considered questions about Mike Tyson and Lance Armstrong – before admitting that, away from sporting reprobates, his own inspiration remains Michael Phelps. O'Connell, who was a seriously good teenage swimmer, training 14 hours a week, makes a compelling case that Phelps's greatest Olympic achievements came in London last year. Amid adversity, and his declining powers, Phelps dredged up some bloody-minded heroics to win a further six Olympic medals – four of them gold.
A smiling O'Connell has "a few more years in me yet" and would like to emulate Phelps in driving himself to the very edge of his resilient ability by playing in the 2015 World Cup. But, first, there is a European semi-final and the near certainty of his third Lions tour this summer. Should Munster somehow beat Clermont on French soil the calls for O'Connell to be named as Lions captain will be even more persuasive. It would be the sweetest end to such a strange season for O'Connell – a leader whose influence and stature seems more monumental than ever. Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.
There have been many moments when, for Paul O'Connell, it seemed as if this slow and testing season would end in blank disappointment. Last year came to a close, on the final day of 2012, with O'Connell being wheeled into theatre for surgery on a bulging disc in his lower back. New Year's Day marked the start of his rehabilitation in a laborious process that curbed all his hopes and thoughts of the Heineken Cup and this summer's Lions tour to Australia.
The giant but softly-spoken lock forward, who has won European rugby's premier club competition twice before with Munster, and led the Lions in South Africa four years ago, knew that only doubt and worry could be seen clearly in the distance. And so he worked on taking small steps into the near future.
Every night, in the worst of winter, he pulled on his trainers and tracksuit. O'Connell plugged in his headphones, lifted his hood and went out for his healing walk. He is too self-contained to have felt lonely as he trudged into the blackness. Anyway, his walk was usually preceded by a quiet rap on the door.
"That'll be Quinny," O'Connell would murmur to his wife, Emily. Their young son, Paddy, had been put down to bed hours before. But it was time for O'Connell's nightly ritual.
Alan Quinlan, his former Munster team-mate, retired from rugby two years ago but he wanted to help Paulie – his close friend in a fire-breathing pack of Munster men. And so, night after night, Paulie and Quinny would walk streets that were deserted but for a few stray teenagers spooked by the sight of two hooded and hulking figures moving with such deliberate calm.
Stretched out in a discreet corner of a restaurant on the edge of Limerick, with the early afternoon sunshine streaming through the dark clouds still scudding outside, O'Connell looks amused now. He is playing again and preparing for Saturday's Heineken Cup semi-final in Montpellier against Clermont Auvergne. O'Connell's imperious display was central to Munster's surprise defeat of Harlequins, at the home of the English champions in the quarter-finals this month. O'Connell was so commanding that his place in the Lions squad was presumably sealed – and increased the debate about who will lead them in Australia.
"I've never seen more hype and speculation about a tour in all my life than this Lions selection," O'Connell says. "I'd love to be on the plane but I'm trying to ignore the speculation."
Even when pressed to outline his private ambitions more fiercely, O'Connell prefers a wry grin. "Look, I'd love to go but it's a tough situation when you're coming back and you didn't play in the autumn or in the Six Nations. I suppose the line I'm peddling is that I'm going to be fresh."
O'Connell breaks into a rumbling laugh. "I've played five and a half games this season," he says, "so freshness is my selling point at the moment."
His warmth and gravitas, as much as his hardened experience and excellence, mark out more meaningful "selling points" for Warren Gatland, the Lions coach, to consider as his captaincy shortlist boils down to Brian O'Driscoll, Sam Warburton and O'Connell. O'Driscoll's qualities have long been obvious and he led O'Connell and the 2005 Lions on their seemingly fated tour of New Zealand. But, now, O'Driscoll's body is battered at the end of his career. Warburton was chosen as Wales' captain by Gatland before the 2011 World Cup but a dip in form meant he briefly lost his place during this season's Six Nations. He appears resurgent and the bookmakers' favourite – but the young Welshman had to play out of position to regain his backrow place during a stunning demolition of England.
O'Connell, meanwhile, simply concentrates on playing well again, and inspiring all around him. He is also driven by a desire to make up for the agonising 2-1 series defeat when he captained the Lions against the Springboks. "The 2009 result was heartbreaking but it was such an enjoyable tour. We worked very hard at becoming a team – socialising quite a bit together – and the way the management brought us together was very astute. I was proud of my team because it was probably the most intense rugby of my life. Some of the best players in the world were really playing great and, emotionally, it meant so much to both teams. We came so close."
In his typically modest way he downplays his extraordinary recovery this season. "I was fairly positive before the operation. I'd seen the scans and they didn't look bad. All the experts were of the opinion that it would be simple enough. You never know for certain but once the operation was out of the way there was light at the end of the tunnel. Before that it was a case of conservatively managing the problem. You wake up every day hoping you'll be all right."
Was he in a lot of pain before surgery? "I really wasn't," O'Connell says, shaking his head as if he can't believe it. "That's the strange thing. In ordinary daily life I was fine. I could pick up my boy with no problem. It was just when I went into real physical contact that I'd seize up. If I was working in an office I probably would not even have noticed."
O'Connell's capacity to absorb pain is different to ordinary office workers. Yet he concedes that, "with back injuries the nerve pain lingers. Essentially, you've had something rubbing against your nerves a long time. So if you take that away during surgery the nerves are still frayed, bruised and a little torn. You have nerve pain for a while."
Despite the hurt, it was imperative that O'Connell stuck to his nightly walking routine. "Part of it is that you have to walk from early on," he says. "After the operation I'd spend the day in bed, reading or watching TV, as you have to do. Then I would have to go out for my walk. The pain was OK. We started with five minutes and then 10 minutes and so on. Quinny lives in the same estate as me and he's a nocturnal creature. Even last night he turned up at a quarter to 10. So he used to come for a stroll with me and we'd shoot the breeze."
O'Connell makes it sound so simple. But he talks openly when asked to explain the darker thoughts that flitted through his head. "My big worry," he admits, "is that I'm in the front five where fitness and work-rate are important. With every passing month you worry about your conditioning and sharpness. That was frustrating and the big worry for me. I knew I could get back by such-and-such a date but I was less certain whether I'd have the same intensity. But I never had a planned date until we won the Racing Métro game and made the quarter-finals. That was two weeks after my op and the quarter-final was 11 weeks away. So that became a real possibility – and a target."
No-one who has met him before would have been surprised that O'Connell met his target. He came back in low-key games for Munster A and Young Munster before playing his first proper match against Connacht. He was voted man of the match. The next severe test loomed. It came in a Pro12 game against Glasgow which turned into humiliation. Munster slumped to a record 51-24 defeat – a week before they faced Harlequins.
O'Connell furrows his brow when asked to describe his mood before that away quarter-final. "I would have been the least positive about a Munster team in a very long time. I had a fear it would turn out similar to the Glasgow game. It could've been a really, really tough day – not just a narrow loss but a rough day. We had a massive fear in the squad as to what might happen if we didn't perform."
He is more jocular when glossing over the way in which he helped galvanise Munster. "I wouldn't say we started spectacularly well. I missed the first kick-off! But after that we got a good foothold and then had a great start in the second half. Once ahead we were able to keep the lead by playing 'no mistakes' rugby. Harlequins had to chase the game and they didn't produce their best performance of the season by a long shot."
O'Connell, meanwhile, was praised to the point of embarrassment for the big man. His coach, Rob Penney, crooned, "He's wonderful. He makes everyone around him feel good. You couple that with his rugby ability and he's just a complete man." Conor O'Shea, Harlequins' coach, described O'Connell as "absolutely majestic" and "the totem their whole team rose around." Ian McGeechan, who chose O'Connell as his 2009 Lions captain, said the 33-year-old was "unbelievable".
"Look," O'Connell almost blushes, "the ball came my way a little bit at times. I was delighted personally because, not being 100%, I was worried beforehand. But I was really more delighted for the team. The young guys were under real pressure and, afterwards, they felt, 'Hey, we really are good enough to carry that Munster mantle.'"
He was tested again the following week after controversy erupted near the end of a league game against Leinster when, aiming to kick the ball, his boot connected with Dave Kearney's head. Intense speculation ensued that O'Connell would be cited for foul play – and miss this weekend's semi-final.
"It was completely unintentional," O'Connell says. "My sole focus was on the ball but I fully understand the hassle about it because it doesn't look great in the video. Dave was carried off and he missed playing this [past] weekend and he's worked hard to get into the Leinster team. That's disappointing. I can also understand the debate about whether I should've been cited or even suspended but I know in my own head my focus was on the ball. As soon as it happened I went to him straightaway. I hope people know it wasn't intentional."
O'Connell is now clear to play against Clermont and his appreciation of the task is plain. "French teams at home are just incredible – and Clermont seem more incredible than the rest of them. They have a fantastic squad and incredibly hard-working players. Some of their tries this season have been amazing. And any team that goes to the Aviva and does what they did to Leinster is a serious side. So it's going to be very tough and we'll be massive underdogs again. But if we can do things right, like against Harlequins, and we get the bounce of the ball, we have a great chance."
We keep talking long after our interview is over and O'Connell's wider interest in sport, and life, is obvious. He asks considered questions about Mike Tyson and Lance Armstrong – before admitting that, away from sporting reprobates, his own inspiration remains Michael Phelps. O'Connell, who was a seriously good teenage swimmer, training 14 hours a week, makes a compelling case that Phelps's greatest Olympic achievements came in London last year. Amid adversity, and his declining powers, Phelps dredged up some bloody-minded heroics to win a further six Olympic medals – four of them gold.
A smiling O'Connell has "a few more years in me yet" and would like to emulate Phelps in driving himself to the very edge of his resilient ability by playing in the 2015 World Cup. But, first, there is a European semi-final and the near certainty of his third Lions tour this summer. Should Munster somehow beat Clermont on French soil the calls for O'Connell to be named as Lions captain will be even more persuasive. It would be the sweetest end to such a strange season for O'Connell – a leader whose influence and stature seems more monumental than ever. Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.
