PAUL O’CONNELL ADMITTED recently that he’s picked up the phone and called a former team-mate for advice on the next move he faces in his glittering rugby career.
And Brian O’Driscoll isn’t a bad man to ask.
The legendary Leinster centre tacked on an extra season to his playing days and didn’t regret it as he added a Grand Slam to his honours haul. Speaking on Off The Ball last night, O’Driscoll said his advice is ‘if in doubt, play on’ but admits only O’Connell can make the call.
“Only Paul O’Connell knows how he feels every morning after a game. He wants to get out of the game, relatively unscathed,” he told Joe Molloy.
“And he’s probably there now. But at the same time you are a long time retired and that was my advice to him. If you feel you are capable of still playing then go for another one.
“I’m glad I went for the extra one as much as it was dragged out from a press point of view. I was delighted that I played it. Not just because there was success at the end of it but because I would have felt I left too much in the tank if Id gone the year previously.
“You just get that sense that Paul’s playing so well; arguably or definitely Ireland’s Six Nations player of the tournament. He just looks in phenomenal condition too. We’re all saying why would you? But he’s the one who has to deal with the aches and pains so we can’t fully understand it.”
Should O’Connell decide to play on past the World Cup, he may well do so in France if Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal has his way. O’Driscoll admits the move to the south of France would be a perfect way to end a career.
“I would have said very very tempting,” he said. “If, I presume there’s no smoke without fire. I presume the offer is there and Boudjellal has been trying to coax him across.
“If I was him it would be a perfect opportunity to go spend eight months down the south of France, play with an unbelievable team, he’s got a young family. People that say you’d undo the legendary status… I would rubbish that talk. I really don’t buy it.
“He’s cemented his status down there and can always go back as a coach or as an ambassador for the club or whatever he wants. He’s done magical things for Munster and that can’t be undone.
“He’s not going down to get himself a tan. He’s going to have the Steve Staunton hat on the whole time. But he would have ambition to go and play with those brilliant players and win a fourth European Cup I’m sure if he did go down there.
“But I haven’t wanted to ask him, I’m just reading the same as everyone else in the papers. He’ll come to his own decision I’m sure.
