Paul O’Connell battles back from injury to make his third Lions tour

This should be about the Lions’ unique sojourn in Carton House but Paul O’Connell’s presence in the media huddle yesterday ensured Ronan O’Gara’s seismic leap into coaching had to be examined some more.

“It’s going to be very strange,” said O’Connell. “I’d say Ronan’s body is in fairly good shape. That’s tough to do, walk away when you are still in good shape. In fairness, he played really well towards the end of the season but he wants to coach and has a great opportunity at Racing Metro.

"It's going to be very different but that's what happens. Anthony Foley retired and we moved on, (so did) Jerry Flannery, David Wallace, Alan Quinlan. Unfortunately we've all got to go some time but Munster moves on and plenty of players have been discovered underneath them."

O’Gara has long been a coach, just without the title. Until now. “He certainly has all the necessary qualities,” O’Connell agreed.

"When you are a kicker as well you have to do four or five extra sessions a week. He has a great work ethic, great attention to detail and great love for the game which is very important. "Yeah, I think he is going to be a great coach."

Mentoring Sexton
And what about mentoring Jonathan Sexton? "It's funny, alright, but no matter who he's coaching I think they will enjoy working with him. He's a funny character, Rog.

“He has a great charm about him, a great way of getting on with the players around him and getting the best out of players around him and hopefully he’ll bring that to coaching as well.”

The past four years have passed in a blink of the eye. So much so that when Paul O’Connell was welcomed at the Vale of Glamorgan last week by Adam Jones, Mike Philips and Alun-Wyn Jones he said it felt like the 2009 tour never really ended.

But it did end, and like 2005 it ended in failure, glorious failure but failure nonetheless.

The lasting image is of O’Connell, the universally respected leader that drew four nations around him to almost topple the mighty Springboks, standing alone on the Loftus Versfeld turf in Pretoria. Beaten, the series lost 2-0 by the cruellest of endings.

He has missed most of the last three seasons with groin, knee and back injuries that each required surgery, and the 33-year-old did change during that eye blink by becoming a father to Paddy O'Connell.

Switch off
"That's the big change from the last tour. It is something I am very conscious of, being away from him for so long. He's three, that's a good age. Hopefully he'll get over. It's important to switch off, there is a lot of pressure on a Lions tour and family can help that."

He wasn’t going to make his third Lions tour until the events of April 7th unfolded. O’Connell’s performance against Harlequins at The Stoop had to be seen to believed, such were his levels of ferocity and magnificence.

“People ask me if I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t been selected, I wouldn’t really because I got back from a very serious injury as quick as I could.

“Got fit as I could as quick as I could and played as well as I could in the games. When you give everything you have to do something or achieve something and if you come up short that’s just the way it is.

“There is no point complaining about it. I wouldn’t have been overly disappointed.”