Ireland's Rugby Giants: Paul O'Connell

It is said that the truly great players are at their best on the biggest occasions. In that 2007 game against England at Croke Park O’Connell demonstrated why he is the greatest lock playing the game. He was a colossus in lineout, loose and scrum. Ireland’s 43-13 victory was a record-breaking score and he was named ‘Man of the Match’. Typically he played down his own role in the proceedings. “I don’t think I did anything special,” he said after the match. “The team played clever rugby. We held on to the ball and put points on the board. We wanted to do the occasion justice.”

Mind you winning awards is nothing new to the Munsterman who was de facto the finest player in the northern hemisphere in 2006. He was short-listed for ‘World Player of the Year’, the only one of the quintet to hail from this part of the globe. Such is his legendary modesty that he is never comfortable with individual awards. He always insists that people remember great teams rather than great players, feeling he was nominated on the back of Munster’s Heineken Cup success.

Try selling that idea to Jonathan Davies. The Welsh wizard, who gained international honours in both major rugby codes, was one of the panel who nominated O’Connell in 2006. “Paul was in there as an individual and a great one,” explains Davies. “He is just being modest. The truth is we never take into account what is happening on the club scene.”

Munster as a club has been good to O’Connell. His enthusiasm for the cause knows no bounds, as one of his mentors Declan Kidney found out to his cost. The big man was having a fitness test on an injured shoulder, and Kidney was holding the tackle bag. One of big Paul’s hits was so hard that Kidney lost a tooth!

O’Connell has sampled every success possible with Munster and absorbed the winning habit. That stood him in good stead with Ireland. On his debut against Wales in 2002 he found himself in a pack containing seven Munster players. He bedded in quickly and confidently, scoring after twenty minutes.

Unfortunately a bang on the head he received early in the game turned out to be concussion, and he had to leave the arena after half an hour. While his first appearance for Ireland, in Eddie O’Sullivan’s first game as coach, may have had a curate’s egg quality about it, his continued involvement was a given. He has gone on to become as crucial to the side as Brian O’Driscoll. His recognition around the world would now be on a par with his illustrious colleague. Schooled in the nuances of the game at top level by the likes of Mick Galwey and Peter ‘The Claw’ Clohessy, O’Connell was a good listener and a quick learner. Under Keith Wood and O’Driscoll in the Ireland camp O’Connell flourished. However he admits their style of captaincy was somewhat different.

“Woodie was an inspirational leader,” remembers Paul. “When he said he needed a big game from you, then you wanted to give it to him. With ‘Drico’ you know that whatever he asks you to give, he will give more. He’s not a ‘Fancy Dan’ and puts his body on the line every time. I love that about him.”

The 2007 Ireland team has a totally different mindset than that of their predecessors. The ‘brave old Ireland’ and ‘gallant losers’ tags are foreign to their nature. These guys are in to win. “You can only play the underdog card for so long,” explains O’Connell. “Guys like Brian O’Driscoll and Ronan O’Gara are the kind you need to change that kind of attitude. They are naturally confident and fully believe they should be winning every game. The days when moral victories mattered for us are over.” Such is the talent and spirit in the 2007 Ireland squad that they were disappointed not to have turned their recent spate of Triple Crown wins into Grand Slams. O’Connell has become one of the brightest emeralds in Ireland’s crown. At 6 foot 6 inches he is certainly the biggest! His modesty borders on self-deprecation.

Donncha O’Callaghan has a neat line which describes how O’Connell’s team mates rate him. “We all say that Superman is now wearing Paul O’Connell pyjamas!”

From the Appletree Press title
Ireland’s Rugby Giants by Ivan Martin