First day at the office for new boy Paul
O’Connell begins his new life as a coach with U20s
ONLY time will tell if the shortest day of 2017 saw the first step towards a successful front-line professional rugby coaching career for Munster and Ireland legend Paul O’Connell.
Yesterday, though, was not the time for talking about it, he felt. His first outing with the Ireland under 20s resulted in defeat to a Leinster Development XV. In the company of his fellow Ireland U20s coaching staff outside a beaten dressing room at the Bective Rangers end of Donnybrook, he politely suggested it was not yet the time to talk about his appointment as forwards coach to Noel McNamara’s age-grade national side.
His decision to enlist is intriguing, though. It’s 22 months since, at the age of 36, a hamstring badly damaged during the 2015 World Cup refused to heal sufficiently and forced him to call time on his stellar playing career, denying him the opportunity to take up a twoseason deal he had struck to see out his playing days by the Mediterranean in Toulon.
In the interim there was the publication of his autobiography, a flirtation with television punditry and a gentle renewal of his relationship with Munster in a low wattage, out-of-sight role. All the while, though, an itch needed scratching; he needed to know if he is cut out for the pressurised business of professional rugby coaching?
He has seen some mates take to it seamlessly. New Zealand-bound Ronan O’Gara. France-based Mike Prendergast. But there was never an indication he would follow suit. Until now. His role with Ireland was confirmed following speculation he had applied for a gig at Leicester.
Ten games — five each at the Six Nations and World Cup — and a six-month IRFU contract is enough of a taste to gauge whether this results-dominated life in a tracksuit is just the thing for a 38-year-old curious about what the next phase of life holds for him.
Ireland U20s isn’t a forum completely alien to him. It was Christmas week last year when he pitched up at Thomond Park as a Munster Development assistant coach for their match against the national side — coached at that time by Nigel Carolan — an exercise he repeated when the teams met again at the same ground in May.
Now, he has opted into an Irish Holy Trinity hailing from arch Limerick club rivals — head coach McNamara from Shannon, Tom Tierney of Garryowen and O’Connell of Young Munster fame — that has Galwegian Ambrose Conboy also involved.
On first impressions yesterday, O’Connell will be busy getting his hands dirty. Ireland eventually lost 26-30 in a seven-try thriller where the lead changed hands on eight occasions.
The nuts and bolts won’t have missed his keen eye. His new side suffered two overthrows on their own lineout, coughed up three scrum penalties and had their maul defence exposed when the hosts beautifully crafted their opening try in a first-half that ended with Ireland a point to the good, 14-13. Ultimately, though, they were unable to maintain that advantage, a 69th minute try tilting the final outcome Leinster’s way.
Earlier in the day, just after 11.30am, O’Connell had emerged kitted out in green hat, tracksuit top, shorts and black runners, maintaining a watching brief as players went through their warmup ahead of the noon start.
Come kick-off, he had traded shorts for tracksuit pants and made his way up to the gantry at the back of a stand populated by a cosily small crowd of onlookers.
Those watching ranged from senior national team assistants Greg Feek and Richie Murphy, to Italy U20 coach Stephen Aboud (the former IRFU man was home on his Christmas break from Parma), to a gaggle of proud parents.
There was also a bunch of school-dodging pupils who strolled through the ground’s open gates to lap up the free show on offer away from the constant hub-bub of traffic passing on the road outside. The nuances of the Dublin 4 stadium will quickly become familiar to O’Connell as Donnybrook is the home venue for Ireland’s three Six Nations games. However, stripes will be earned elsewhere. Ireland have another warm-up next Friday against Munster Development in Limerick, before the show really gets on the road with the February 2 Six Nations opener in Brive against France which will host the World Cup in June. By that stage, O’Connell should well know whether front-line coaching is something long-term for him.