Ireland captain Paul O'Connell is very much in the phase of his career when every second question thrown his way has something to do with just how long he can keep going. The second row giant has had a strong 6 Nations campaign up to this point but has more than once dropped the hint that this will be his final 6 Nations and he might depart rugby after a certain tournament in September.
O'Connell sat down with Sunday Times writer Peter O'Reilly today to expand upon numerous subjects, such as substitutions, concussion and the detail in Joe Schmidt's coaching. One nugget stood out, O'Connell spoke of how well he felt during Ireland's Autumn series but also of how badly he felt during Munster's back to back games against Clermont and summed up how the creaking body feels these days:
“Brendan Grace has a joke where he goes down to tie his laces and he tries to see what other jobs he can get done while he’s down there. I can be a bit like that at times.”
One can be confident he'll feel fine for eighty minutes today but treasure these games from Paulie, they'll be gone soon.
Sniff.
Picture: SPORTSFILE
Quote: Sunday Times (€)
