Paul O’Connell rules out Lions tour as he faces lengthy spell out

A player who has come to the end of his Irish career is beginning another. Paul O'Connell wants to be with Toulon when European competition shortly comes in to orbit but if rugby and injury has taught O'Connell anything, it's that decisions are often taken out of his hands.

At 36, his ambition is narrow, focused, short term. Mostly, to get fit. The breadth of that challenge means there will be no room in his timetable for another tilt with the Lions when they travel to New Zealand in 2017.

His age and the “most difficult injury I have ever had” compel him to pour his energies into his new club. With a return date from this grievous hamstring tear anywhere between four and eight months, almost one season of his two-year contract in the France could be spent rehabbing.

But another Lions tour is a step to far. The Irish secondrow will wring no more mileage out of his body whether or not Joe Schmidt is the coach.

“Definitely no,” he says. “Look, the last few years have been brilliant, incredibly enjoyable, but it’s always a challenge with my body.

“I suppose the challenge is the training. There are certain weights that I just can’t do that other guys can do. There’s a certain amount of time on my feet that I can do and other guys can do more.

“It would be a little bit too far for me. My plan had been to come off a really good World Cup and then go over to Toulon in good shape and have a really good season this year. Unfortunately, now that has all completely changed and I’m probably going to be rehabbing the most difficult injury I’ve ever had and I’ll be rehabbing it at 36 years of age.

Hindsight

“It’s going to be difficult enough for my body as it is without trying to think about a tour down there. I’ll be thinking with a short-term view and I certainly don’t think I’ll be going to New Zealand.”

O’Connell, speaking at the launch of Pinergy, leaves Ireland satisfied that although Argentina represented’ “disappointment”, Ireland do not have big issues. Hindsight from a number of commentators has condemned Schmidt’s team as playing the wrong game with the wrong type of players. Not good enough and well beaten, with surgery more than a sticking plaster required.

But he is adamant. Ireland are better than the beating they got from Argentina.

“To come off such a brilliant performance against France and not to back that up is disappointing,” he says.

"You hear [All Black coach] Steve Hansen talking about New Zealand trying to make sure they go from a great performance to a great performance. We really didn't do that against Argentina and that's what we needed.

“It’s very easy for people to be very wise after the fact but I don’t think there are big issues there. The shame of it is that we didn’t make a semi-final and possibly go further because I even see it on my road at home with my son and all his friends – they’re rugby mad now after the World Cup.”

O'Connell has spoken to Toulon owner, comic tycoon Mourad Boudjellal, but more recently to team manager Tom Whitford, physiotherapist Terry Stone, strength and conditioning coach Paul Stridgeon and former Italian outhalf Diego Domingez. His five-year old son Patrick has been enrolled in a school. Limerick is almost in the rearview mirror.

It's a cultural shift. But there are no tears for Munster. Contributing to what Boudjellal has built is what drives him. He's even been learning French from interviews with Toulon's former head boy, Jonny Wilkinson.

“The family are incredibly excited,” he says. “They don’t care about my injuries. They just want to make sure we go. I’m a little worried about Paddy going into school at five with no French. I’m dreading his first day at school when I leave him in and he isn’t able to talk to anyone.

Different character

“But I think he [Boudjellal] has created something incredible over there. He definitely is a different character. I’ve met him and he absolutely loves the club, loves the area. Obviously, the way he does things isn’t similar to the way Munster does things. But there are similarities between Limerick and Toulon and what the club means to the city.

“He is massively into what the club provides for the city and that the players understand that. I can identify with that.”

He’s been on the flat of his back for two weeks. Yesterday was a rare expedition outside. The Millennium Stadium was the first time he was ever stretchered off the pitch.

New experiences there behind him now, a new life ahead.