Leaner and keener than ever for the battle ahead

RUGBY:After the injury woes of recent years Paul O'Connell is hungry for the heat of the battle, writes GERRY THORNLEY

THE BEST of Paul O’Connell comes with game time, so the more we see of him over the next few months, the better. If there was one Irish player who didn’t want last season to end, it was O’Connell.

The groin problems which plagued him after the 2010 Six Nations, which were compounded by that red card against the Ospreys and his ensuing suspension, have been well documented. The net effect was that he came into last season’s Six Nations virtually cold, and it was no surprise that his best came last up, in the win over England.

After just 12 starts and the appearances off the bench last season, his mileage count is at least low, and though he’d like to start cranking it up soon, at least this season he also has a pre-season under his belt.

“I’d no pre-season last year. I spent last year’s pre-season in hospital so to get that five or six weeks of weights and fitness under the belt has been great for me. Obviously I would be low mileage, I played very few games last year. I’ve been looking forward to getting back playing, I would rather not have had the break, really I would have liked to have kept playing but the bit of weights and skill work and defensive work we’ve done in camp has been good as well.”

He reckons he needs three or four games before reaching optimum performance level and it appears he’s being earmarked to start the home games against France and England.

Whereas France, Scotland and Italy are limiting themselves to two warm-up matches each, and England and Wales three each, Ireland have opted for four Tests plus next Thursday’s game against Connacht. It runs the greater risk of injury, but with the memory of four years ago still vivid, should ensure more match hardness.

“No matter what training you do, you just can’t replicate games. To bring out the weights, to bring out all the running you’ve done in training, the skills work you’ve done in training, you need games, you need to put it into practice in a game situation, review what you’ve done at the weekend and make plans for the week ahead. I think it’s great to have the four games and that game against Connacht, it really lets guys get plenty of game time under their belts.”

As well as down days and weekend breaks, as an excellent golfer O’Connell has enjoyed being based in the Carton House Hotel. While he maintains the pre-season conditioning has been very individualised, and that some players have been seeking to add bulk and muscle, as was evident to the naked eye last season, he is opting for a leaner look.

“I’d be down a little bit on what I used to be. I used to be about 113 (kilograms) but I’m trying to play around 110 now, so that’s where I am so I’m just maintaining that.”

The rationale underlines the modesty of the Lions’ captain. “I suppose my game is a work-rate game really rather than trying to power through holes or anything like that. It would be great to be doing that as well but mine is ultimately a work-rate game, line-out, breakdown, making tackles, making a lot of carries and things like that, so I think I perform better at 110 kilos.

“The All Blacks have been leading the way in this and with the ball in play longer and more breakdowns, the game has also become quicker.

“You used to be able wrap a guy up in the air and if you were locked onto the ball, you could stay locked onto the ball on the ground. You can’t do that anymore so how much the changing of that rule, that you have to release, speeds it up, I don’t know but it certainly does speed it up alright.”

He also envisages having to carry the ball less, especially with the proven carrying of the backrowers. “They all love to carry the ball. That’s what they do. They’re good at it. They’re probably the best in the team at it. It probably means that the likes of myself and Donners (O’Callaghan) end up hitting a lot more rucks and trying to provide more opportunities for the attack lads.”

Those survivors, like O’Connell, from four years ago will be grateful that the centrally based Regency Hotel has now been completed, and they won’t be anywhere near the Sofitel by Bordeaux Lac (Ireland’s dreary outpost four years ago).

Playing with a straight bat (and though you don’t entirely believe any of the players on this one) he maintains that the return to Bordeaux will not revive unpleasant memories.

“Not really for me; it doesn’t bother me. I suppose you just move on. I might look back on it in time, but really for most guys, you just move on to the next thing, you don’t dwell too much on bad times. You just try to review it and move on. There are no real demons for me going back to Bordeaux.”

There are plenty of other things on the minds of the players, with a chunk of this side going to have to hit the ground running tonight against France.

“I think for us up front, it’s all about physicality. They obviously always pick a very big pack and you’ve got to defend well against them. I think we did that in the Aviva this year but we were a small bit indisciplined at times but we made one defensive error and that’s what costs you.

“It’s funny how probably after we review the Scottish game we’ll end up with a lot of the same kind of thoughts and goals that we had in the Six Nations games.

“That’s probably the big thing, our discipline away from home as well in front of a big crowd over there. Discipline will be massively important, as well as reducing our turnovers as well. When we get the ball, we probably have to treasure it a little bit more.”

He also has no doubts that, in time-honoured fashion, Les Bleus will seek to intimidate Ireland. “Without a doubt. I remember losing one or two games to France because they mauled us off the park. They’re big on their maul, they’re big on their scrum so we’re going to have to be up for both those aspects of the game.”

Typical of a Declan Kidney team, it’s been striking to note how the Irish players have not repeated their lofty ambitions, a la four years ago, when boldly talking of reaching the semi-finals or better and of being contenders. The game-by-game cliché makes for less exciting copy, but it also seems to suit the Irish psyche.

“I think when we won the Grand Slam in 2009, we just took it game by game. Even when we beat France in that first game, and everyone got a bit excited, we tried to take it game by game and I think that works best for us, really.

“I think when you look at the class we have in the squad, we know how good we can be, so it’s just important we don’t get ahead of ourselves. Just take each game as it comes, make sure whoever gets picked to play empties the tank, that we put in a big performance in each game, review that then move on to the next one. And I think when we do that as an Irish team, with the standard we have, we’re capable of big things.”

Save for the 1991 quarter-final epic with Australia in Lansdowne Road, Ireland have never done good World Cups really, and remain the only one of the IRB’s eight founding countries, plus Argentina, never to reach even a semi-final.

Yet it was interesting to hear Jonathan Sexton, one of those not tarred by previous failures, speak on radio during the week, when he began by saying: “We’ve a great opportunity . . .” then paused and corrected himself to give it the game by game routine.

Yet for O’Connell and a chunk of the golden generation, this is assuredly their last World Cup, and thus last chance to tick one large-sized box. “The next World Cup is always the biggest World Cup, you know what I mean?” he says, before admitting: “As you say we’re in a great place in terms of experience, we’re also then in a great place in terms of the youth that are coming through.”

“The kind of youth that are coming through, the young guys are very confident, they’ve already won a lot of things, they’ve won Grand Slams and Heineken Cups and that. We’ve an excellent coaching staff and we’ve probably learned a lot of lessons from the past as well, so in terms of being in good shape going into it, I think it’s obviously very important to us because for some of us it’s our last run around.

“But for Ireland,” he admits, “we won’t be in as good a shape going into it for a long time.”

That much was said with confidence. Deep down he’s aiming big. He always does.