It's an emotional day for all. For all of Munster. For all of Irish rugby. For Paul O'Connell. It's widely believed that today marks the great man's final appearance for his province in today's Pro 12.
It's a sign of how great O'Connell is that CJ Stander has been getting emotional about the big man during the week. Quoted in the Irish Times, Stander credits O'Connell for helping him adapt to Ireland since he moved from South Africa two and a half years ago:
I remember at the beginning, not playing and just hanging around, he would always look at me and see how disappointed I looked in my face, and he’d come up to me and just say: ‘Keep the faith, kid. Keep the faith’.
There were times when the young Stander was wondering why he had bothered to move to Ireland and Munster, and it was O'Connell's words that kept him motivated.
Stander tells the story of his first day in Munster, and the actions of O'Connell that speaks volumes about the leader and man that he is. O'Connell rang Stander to make sure if they were alright, and if Stander's wife Jean-Marie was in the pool, and Stander was wondering why he was doing that:
Why’s he talking to me? I must be doing something right. It just shows the kind of man he is.
I’m crying now again. I never thought I would play with a guy like that, and now I’m playing with him, and he talks about me like that. That’s the high of my career. I look at him at training and I just want to thank him every time I see him. He’s a legend. I don’t think I’ll ever meet a guy like that again.
We all know how amazing O'Connell is, but it's not until you hear someone who grew up outside of Ireland talk about him, and how O'Connell deals with incomers into the Munster squad that you realise how much he will be missed.
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Photo Credit Diarmuid Green/Sportsfile
