O’Connell’s Battle for Nobel prize

NOW that the Nobel prize for literature has been turned into a whole new ball game, it can be but a matter of time before bookmakers offer odds on Paul O’Connell succeeding Bob Dylan.

The granite Irishman will scoff at the idea but there are cases to be made for his claim to more than one award on the strength of his autobiography, The Battle, as written by Alan English of Stand Up For Munster fame.

O’Connell’s revelation that he wanted to chin the Lions’ divisive spin doctor Alastair Campbell during the damaging tour of New Zealand in 2005 but thought better of it surely puts him in line for next year’s Nobel peace prize.

Being short-listed for the peace prize would catapult the mighty Lions lock into a competitive field. Can he beat Joey Barton to the punch?