Grand plans: Ireland's Sean O'Brien on life beyond the rugby pitch
Suffering recently from various injuries, Ireland star Sean O’Brien is starting to look to a life after rugby, says
WATCHING Ireland secure the Six Nations title must have been a bittersweet moment for Sean O’Brien.
Recently recovered from a hip injury, the back row stalwart’s dream of rejoining his teammates to make it a Grand Slam turned into a nightmare when he injured his shoulder lining out with Leinster last Friday.
Rolling into Wilde & Green in temperature-defying cotton shorts and a t-shirt this week, however, the Tullow Tank insisted there is plenty of mileage left in the engine yet.
“I’d rather be training, obviously,” admits the Ireland and Leinster rugby star, as he sits down with Feelgood for an exclusive chat at the Milltown cafe close to his apartment.
“I’ve had a frustrating couple of months now with my hip. It was just a bit of wear and tear. I kind of had an issue for the last two games and was struggling every week to train.
“It’s just one of those things that I was just getting impinged the whole time, so it had to be done.
“I had a hip scope, got the joint cleaned out, which helped an awful lot,” he explains of the procedure performed by leading orthopaedic surgeon Professor Damian Griffin in London in January. .
“Basically, they go in, take out all those little bits and pieces that are floating about, and close you back up.
“It was only meant to be a couple of weeks, but I was so weak around the joint that it took until now to get it strong enough. Thankfully, now it’s fine. I’m feeling good now.”
Famed for his tireless tackling and bullocking runs, the flanker’s late charge to lead Ireland to victory over England at Twickenham tomorrow suffered a dramatic setback when he left the pitch just 27 minutes into his long-awaited comeback for Leinster against Wales.
Back home in Carlow, one person who’s sure to empathise is younger brother William, who plays rugby for Tullow, but is currently also watching from the sidelines after injuring his knee.
“We’re actually all injured,” says Sean, whose other siblings — big brother Stephen, big sister Caroline, and little sister Alexandra — are all similarly sporty.
“It’s probably a genetic thing in our family. We’re all into sport. My older brother played rugby with Jersey for a few years and both my sisters played as well.
“I started playing U9s initially, so I’ve always played, but I was big into Gaelic football when I was younger too. That was probably the main thing I was focusing on until I got to about 15, and then I realised that I could give rugby a go.
“I was getting better and better at it. I was enjoying the structure and the discipline of it a lot more at the time, as well. I used to go mad when I was playing football because everyone would be giving out to the referee. Rugby’s such a different game.”
Either training or playing five days a week, self-discipline is something he knows all about.
A piled-high breakfast of up to three poached eggs, bacon, and protein pancakes, healthy lunch such as a chicken salad and red meat or fish with vegetables for dinner, along with snacks like homemade protein bars and shakes, all help to fuel the Tank, as he’s otherwise known,on a day-to-day basis.
“It’s pretty full on,” says the 31-year-old, who resists freshly brewed coffee for a bottle of still water as we catch up. “Especially on training days, I know that I’m burning just over 4,500 calories, so I need to be eating at least 3,500-4,000 calories of good food to sustain weight and to keep muscle mass.
“My diet has evolved a lot over the last few years. I was living with our nutritionist with Leinster, Daniel Davey, for a couple of years and he opened my eyes up to a different side of nutrition in terms of fuelling up properly.
“After a game, if I was to have something bad, I’d go for a pizza,” confesses Sean, tapping on the Fitbit Ionic he wears to keep track of everything he puts in and pumps out of his body.
“You’re after working hard, you’re looking for calories to put back into your body, and then the next day you’re back on the bandwagon again — so that’d be my treat, really.”
From field to fork and back again, the self-confessed “meat and two veg man” doesn’t have to look too far for a decent steak.
His parents, Sean and Kaye, have a beef farm in Ardristan just 5km from Tullow, which he’s keen to keep one welly in.
“I still farm,” says Sean Jr, joking that he won’t be going vegan like Ireland Rugby League player Anthony Mullally anytime soon. “It’s a hard way to make a living, but it’s an enjoyable lifestyle, as such. I find it relaxing.
“It’s something that I’ve always loved doing since I was a young lad. I’d like to think that I’d still have a part in that down the line as well on a small scale.”
In the meantime, the legendary line breaker has joined forces with Subway and Club Zero to launch the ‘Tasty Trip Down Under’ campaign, giving customers the chance to win a trip to Australia when they flash their loyalty card in Subway stores nationwide (subcard.subway.co.uk).
Questions about his love life are off limits during the interview, we’ve been forewarned, making it clear that despite the adulation that comes with donning the national jersey, the sports star values his anonymity too.
“People at home see me so much that you don’t really get a reaction,” reckons Sean, who split from Georgia McGurk, daughter of RTÉ presenter Miriam O’Callaghan, last year.
“That’s why I love going down there — you’re treated like everybody else. If I went out with my dad for a couple of pints, you’re left alone. There’s no madness that’s in the bigger cities.
“I’m more of a relaxed person, I’d say, so it suits me down there. It suits me being out in the open air and out in the country.”
Following fellow back rower Jamie Heaslip’s retirement from the game last month, enjoying the country air is something the Ireland No7 could be doing a lot more of in the not too distant future.
Together with Heaslip and Leinster and Ireland teammates Rob and Dave Kearney, the rugby player turned entrepreneur already runs The Bridge 1859 and Lemon & Duke in Dublin, and is right now building his own trendy gastropub in the Dolmen County.
“It certainly gives you a reality check,” says Sean about watching some of his peers hang up their boots, “especially when some of them are only two or three years older than you.
“It does put things into perspective a lot quicker for you.
“I’ve had some serious injuries over my career and each time you assess where you are in rugby terms, and how long more have you left or how long more can you take another bad one.
“Your rugby career is a lot shorter than the rest of your life, so you have to think about that and make sure there’s something in place for you and something that you can get involved in when you finish.
“Being involved with those two places has been very good for us in terms of developing a business head and seeing what it takes to run that side of things,” continues the mature student, who’s currently in the second year of a three-year business degree at Griffith College Dublin.
“I’m in the middle of building a place down home myself at the minute, another pub with nice food, so we hope to start in the next few weeks. The plan [is to] have something [close to] home that I can get my hands into when I do finish up.”
Until then, the Tullow Tank is just hoping to get the chance to continue living up to his nickname, which he laughs “could be worse”.
At the time of going to print, no final decision had been made as to whether he will make an appearance during the last match of the Six Nations Championship, kicking off at 2.45pm tomorrow.
“There’s always a chance,” he says, before shooting off for a physio session. “I’ll keep doing what I’m doing anyway!”
