O’Connell on the road back

YOU sense you’re in the company of a true champion when he takes a positive approach to missing out on six months and at least as many international caps at a crucial stage of his career.

Yet that was the refreshing attitude of Paul O’Connell ahead of his return to big-time rugby tonight when he will line out for Munster against Connacht in the quarter-final of the Celtic League at Musgrave Park (7.35pm).

“The last game I played was against New Zealand in the first Test last June,” he recalled. “I injured my shoulder, and whatever way I slept on the long haul flight coming home, I woke up with a pain down my right leg.