He’s back, and how. It wasn’t just that he marked his first game since October with his first try since April 2009, nor that he was the towering focal point of Munster’s line-out and driving maul, nor even that he carried, tackled, engineered a muscular steal at the line-out and lasted the full 80 minutes. More it was just Paul O’Connell’s sheer presence.
Rarely has one player transcended a game quite like Paul O’Connell did in Musgrave Park on Saturday night. Munster’s 22-0 win over Connacht wasn’t quite secondary, though even the initially convincing first-half display looked inspired to some degree by his galvanising presence, but though he was clearly sucking diesel at times, his performance provided vivid confirmation of his return to health and form.
He’ll have hated the fuss and attention, being the primary source of attention before, during and after the game, but confirmation of his well-being after coming through a full 80 minutes, after half a game for the Munster As and a full 80 for Young Munster, clearly gladdened him too.
Match fitness
"It was tough. It was tough," he breathed. "I felt like one of those players who does something good and doesn't do anything else for five minutes. I felt like I was doing a bit of that today. I just need to get the match fitness to be able to put together those back-to-back efforts. I probably didn't have that at times today."
Having feared a tight, weather-affected game, which might have suited him better in some respects, O’Connell said: “It was an enjoyable game to play in. We started really well but then descended into some of the silly stuff we have been involved in recent weeks, where we play some really good stuff and then we release the pressure with some silly turnovers. We need to build pressure by holding on to the ball and mixing up the game the way as we did in the first 10-15 minutes.”
Reflecting on his try brought a glint to his eye and a reminder of his free-scoring Young Munster days. “I was chatting to someone about that during the week. Prolific, I think you might have used about me before, and it hasn’t been around for a while. My last one might have been here against Glasgow,” he guessed, before being reminded his last try was in that rampant Heineken Cup quarter-final win over the Ospreys in April 2009.
'Incredibly important'
Coming through 80 minutes was "incredibly important", what with leaders Glasgow away followed by their Heineken Cup quarter-final away to Harlequins and then the visit of Leinster.
“I’ll be fine by Harlequins,” said O’Connell. “I know that myself. There’s no fear. It’s just getting into. I had a few good carries but some of my breakdown stuff I wouldn’t be too happy about. You really need to take a close look for that. The team who wins the breakdown generally wins the game so I need to sharpen up there. And back to back efforts. To be able to do something good and back it up with something else straight away.”
O’Connell et al came through unscathed, and Rob Penney will “have a few conversations with guys coming back from international duty about where they’re at” with regard to the Glasgow game. However, in addition to Dave McSharry’s ongoing groin problem ruling him out again before kick-off, Connacht were also hit by a calf injury to hooker Jason Harris-Wright that looks likely to sideline him for a few weeks.
