Saturday, August 21, 2010
THE MEDICAL treatment is over, he has returned to the gym and the running track, and at last Paul O’Connell can think about playing rugby again.
The Munster and Lions captain has been sidelined since March due to a mysterious bone infection in the groin area that defied the best efforts of the medics to diagnose and treat. The problem was eventually identified and thus began a lengthy treatment process which kept O’Connell wrapped in cotton wool for much of the summer.
But over the last five weeks the Limerick man has made huge strides, to the delight of provincial and national management and fans alike. Understandably after a season of setbacks, he isn’t announcing return dates just yet.
O’Connell said: "Once we got rid of the infection, things started improving. I have a scan every two weeks and it shows the bone healing. Once the bone heals, I can get back doing most stuff. But then I have to get a pre-season into me.
"I’ve been back doing weights now for five weeks.
"Prior to that I’d been on antibiotics for a long time and wasn’t able to do that.
"It’s nice to be back training again even if I’m not doing all the stuff on the pitch that the lads are doing.
"It’s nice to be working hard in the gym, you feel like you’re earning your wages!
"I’m off all the treatment now but I’ve tried to avoid setting targets for my return. The injury is so unusual that I could make great gains but all of a sudden things could slow down.
"The improvements over the last two or three weeks have been good and I hope that continues. But I have no doubt there are going to be one or two hiccups along the way. It’s frustrating enough as it is without targeting a game and missing it."
On Thursday it was confirmed that O’Connell will captain the province for the fifth successive year.
But the skipper understands that there are several experienced team mates who would love the honour – ironically it is those colleagues who vote him in as leader season after season.
"It’s a tough job but an enjoyable one," he said of the role. "Quinny (Alan Quinlan) says that if there’s any lifting of trophies to be done at the end of year that he’s the one to do it as he comes near the end of his career. I told him I didn’t care who lifts it once we win something.
"You think of the guys who have gone before me, Jimmy Williams, Anthony Foley, Mick Galwey, it’s a big honour and one I don’t underestimate."
O’Connell doesn’t sugarcoat his description of last season’s Heineken Cup and Magners League campaigns.
"We know that we let ourselves down last year. Obviously making two semi-finals is good but we never hit it playing with the intensity and character we pride ourselves on. That’s something that was missing from our play. Why we couldn’t play like we did against Perpignan away and against Northampton at home is a big question. Injuries would have been a part of it with the team changing quite a lot.
"It was only when we reached the semi-finals and we didn’t produce the levels we always would have produced that we had to review everything. We’ve changed a few things while the arrival into the squad of a few young players from the B&I Cup, the return of a few injured guys and a few more foreign signings has given things a lift."
That manner in which they tumbled out of both competitions left many proclaiming that it was the end of the road for this once mighty outfit and that a period of transition was looming. O’Connell sees all signs of the argument but believes the obituaries may be premature.
"I’m not sure that many of our senior players produced the goods last season and we’d be the first to admit that. You saw in games like Perpignan away when guys did fire just how good we can be. But we didn’t maintain that.
"I think Denis’s (Leamy) injury that day was a big blow to us. He was phenomenal. He had one of the best games I’ve seen him play and gave the squad a massive lift. And then to hear the following morning that he was going to be out for the season deflated everyone."
And O’Connell is convinced the omens for the 2010/11 assaults are good. He revealed: "The lads have put in an incredible pre-season. I know I’ve been on the sidelines watching most of it but I don’t think we’ve worked or trained as hard or put as much concentration or effort into what we’re doing.
"We’re just back from La Manga in Spain where the lads put in three sessions a day with contact in most of them. It’s a long season and it won’t be perfect all the time but I think we’re in for a good campaign if we can keep most of the guys injury free and keep the competition that’s beginning to develop in the squad."
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