O’Connell insists O’Driscoll will bounce back
Leinster this week announced that O’Driscoll, 32, would be undergoing shoulder surgery for a trapped nerve that has been hampering his play for some time and will be out of action for six months. That rules the talismanic centre out for the bulk of this season but Munster captain O’Connell, O’Driscoll’s Ireland vice-captain, said he had what it takes to make a full recovery.
“I have no doubt he will come back, absolutely no doubt,” O’Connell said yesterday.
“I suppose it’ll be fun for people to write him off now in the papers or whatever for a few months but I have no doubt he’ll come back.
“I have no doubt that with his mental strength and the way he is made up, I have no doubt he’ll come back and he will probably have a great finish to his career because of the break.”
O’Driscoll’s IRFU contract is set to expire at the end of next season but O’Connell, speaking ahead of the Heineken Cup opening round of matches yesterday, believes the break from rugby could actually be beneficial.
“It’ll probably do him good. I think that sometimes when you are rehabbing injuries all the time it doesn’t do any harm to have something that rules you out for a few months so you can work on a few other things. You can work on your speed and your strength and different things like that.
“And the break refreshes you and I think you come back and I think there is probably one or two more seasons, no doubt, in him, and I think he’ll probably play all the better for it.
“That’s his thing, he is mentally very strong and I know it was a struggle for him [playing through the pain]. I know when I play, I hate to play injured, you want to be 100% all the time. It really rattles you when you are not going out there at 100%. It has probably been a tough few months for him like that, but I think it is a great decision for him for his career.”
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