Paulie O’Connell is a scaredy cat – he’s no Bungee Aki, says pal Stephen Ferris
PUNDIT and former Ireland international Stephen Ferris has revealed his biggest lesson from being in the 2011 Rugby World Cup squad – Paul O’Connell is ‘a bit of a scaredy cat’.
The 35-times-capped Ulsterman had a standout role in New Zealand in 2011 and remembers the tournament as ‘mighty craic’, despite a spirit-crushing defeat to Wales in the quarter-final.
He said one team day out highlighted a surprising characteristic of Munster and Ireland legend O’Connell.
‘I realised that Paul O’Connell was actually a bit of a scaredy cat,’ Ferris told the Irish Mail on Sunday this week.
‘We went bungee jumping and the big man’s knees were trembling so bad – I’ve never seen anything like it.’
The ex-flanker said that the squad ‘could hardly get him off the ramp you jump off. He was shaking like a leaf. So that’s one thing I learned – that Paul McConnell didn’t like heights.’
But O’Connell, Ireland’s current forwards coach, eventually took the plunge.
‘I think I kicked him off,’ his former teammate laughed.
Ferris was an unused reserve for the ‘catastrophe’ of the 2007 tournament in France – he jokes that the ‘first rule of the 2007 Rugby World Cup is that you’re not allowed to talk about the 2007 World Cup’ – but was superb in 2011, particularly in a second round win over Australia.
He roomed with ‘good pal’ Seán O’Brien and called the World Cup experience ‘some craic’, up to a quarter-final defeat to Wales. Careful to praise a Welsh team that won the Six Nations in both of the following two seasons, he sees it as ‘the one game in my career that I would play again, if I could turn back the clock’.
‘It felt like we were all just going through the motions, and some days you just can’t put your finger on why it happened.’
While acknowledging our quarter-final hoodoo – we have never made it to the last four – has ‘continued to raise its head’ at subsequent World Cups, Ferris believes it is ‘more so for the fans it’s lingering’ in the back of minds than for the players.
The Maghaberry, Co. Antrim man is confident the evident bonhomie of the current squad, with barnstorming displays from New Zealand-born Connacht star Bundee Aki, cultivated by manager Andy Farrell, can break the curse.
‘Andy Farrell was a player himself not that long ago and he understands what it takes to keep a team together for a long period of time. In 2007, we didn’t play well at all and it was an unsettled camp – everybody was finding things to blame and pointing the finger.
‘But, for me, I think Andy Farrell has done a really good job of keeping the players onside and making sure that everybody enjoys the experience.
‘It’s all good having the best rugby team to go away to a tournament, but if you’re not enjoying yourself off the pitch as well then it can be very, very frustrating.’
The 38-year-old pundit – who retired from rugby nine years ago after a serious ankle injury – was speaking from Bangor Rugby Club in Co. Down, in support of a National Lottery campaign that highlights how £30m (€35m) it raises a week goes towards good causes across the North and the UK.
‘I think clubs constantly need funding,’ he said. ‘And if they don’t [get funding], then they struggle to survive.’
Ferris said he ‘would not be betting against Ireland [to go all the way] with the way that they’re playing’.
‘They’re a team in form. Everybody looks confident. ‘They’re good players and experienced players. Johnny Sexton, Bundee Aki, Hugo Keenan to name just a few are in really fine form,’ he said.