O’Connell ready to get physical

WHEN you have captained the British & Irish Lions, you know a leader when you see one. And in this Wales side, Paul O’Connell sees them in places most of us would not expect to look.

Like a teenage winger who was still in school when O’Connell was leading from the front on the Lions’ tour of South Africa three summers ago. Yet to Ireland’s second-row totem, a player such as 19-year-old George North, less than a year into his international rugby career, can display leadership skills better than a player with 10 more years on the clock and three times as many caps.

“Certainly on the pitch, from my experiences, whenever I’ve captained and a young guy comes into the team playing well like North, it gives the team a massive lift,” O’Connell says. “That kind of leadership is more important than anything when you look at a young guy coming in and leading the physicality. Some of his carries against Samoa were phenomenal.