O’Callaghan still giving all for Munster’s cause
As Munster’s young stags did battle out on the golf course, the older lads, led by Paul O’Connell and Mick O’Driscoll, were soaking up the sunshine outside, shooting the breeze and making the most of some down-time during a two-day training camp in East Cork ahead of a season-defining series of games. And tomorrow’s Heineken Cup quarter-final at home to Ulster is clearly the most important.
“All the young fellas are out on the course but you’ll find there’s more team bonding going on with the non-golfers, sipping cups of tea and having the chats,” O’Callaghan, who will be on the bench tomorrow, says.
“It’s just important to spend time with each other. I think it’s a serious part of it all that’s undervalued.
“We have to build up a rapport together and an awful lot of us have been away for a bit but it’s a huge thing when you feel like you’re playing with your best friends and you can’t take that for granted. I suppose we’ve been lucky over the years to have that but it’s something that needs constant work on because if you start taking it for granted, it falls apart. It’s probably the most important thing.”
Spoken like the senior figure O’Callaghan now is, after 14 seasons as a professional rugby player. And the Munster, Ireland and Lions lock is not done yet either. Just as fly-half and Cork Constitution club-mate Ronan O’Gara came out fighting in the wake of Ireland’s painful defeat to England at Twickenham with a public declaration of his desire to play for at least two more years to the age of 38, O’Callaghan feels he still has so much more to give, having turned 33 last month.
“You look at Brad Thorn, you look at Simon Shaw and you judge it from your family members that played rugby well into their late 30s and with good form as well. It’s all to do with how you look after yourself and how well conditioned you are and I’ve been lucky enough with the fitness staff I’ve worked with.
“When everything else mightn’t be going for you in terms of selection, you can always drive on in the gym, watch yourself and get stronger. I think that’s always been a tool I’ve used to keep on top and that won’t change.
“Age isn’t a factor, not with me anyway. I feel good, I want to keep playing and being here is just massive for me.”
If the number of candles on the birthday cake is irrelevant, the experience gained after all those seasons has had a very influential effect on the way O’Callaghan keeps himself in condition.
“I don’t drink anyway but you get smarter and you become aware of what really works for you. You start questioning [strength and conditioning] programmes probably a bit more than when you were younger. If you got a programme before, you just ripped into it whereas now you ask ‘why am I doing this?’ and ‘what’s the benefit down the track?’.
“So with good people around you, you can stay on top of stuff like that. [Head of fitness] Bryce [Cavanagh] and the guys, they’re great guys to push you on and help you out and when I see Simon Shaw still trucking away at 40, I’m like ‘Go on my man!’.
“And I like to read up about guys who are older and still excelling, driving it on, because, you know, when you reach a certain age... as soon as you’re over 30, everyone will top you off and sign you out. So instead of shouting for the underdogs now I’m cheering for the ageing dog. Fair play to them.
“I keep an ear out for how old guys are and I have huge respect for them. I’m reading this book right now about Chris McCormack, who’s an ironman, triathlete, in Australia and you get an insight into a fella and you realise it’s all the same.
“Guys are driven by different things. I’m driven by the fear of failure, the lows of a losing dressing room and it’s interesting when you hear other people saying things like that and they know exactly how to push themselves on.
“And we’re lucky as forwards. As you get older speed and agility are go but when it’s not something you have at the start, it doesn’t bother you if it’s gone!”
O’Callaghan’s enthusiasm even extended to the two-day mini-camp held by Munster at Fota that involved another stint in a hotel room so soon after he was holed up with the Ireland squad at Carton House for the duration of the Six Nations.
“I know it’s another night away but you’d be thankful of it because it gets you up to speed on the detail, gets the Ireland plays and calls out of your system and gives you time to study up on the playbook. So you’d need it from that point of view but the massive thing is spending a bit of time with each other and just getting back into it.”
Getting back into the Munster routine carries an added incentive for O’Callaghan given his long-standing second-row partnership with Paul O’Connell was split up at the start of the Heineken Cup pool campaign as Tony McGahan brought in Donnacha Ryan to combine with the captain. And it was only a back-row injury crisis forced Ryan to the rear of the pack that allowed O’Callaghan back in.
When Test duty beckoned again with Ireland for the Six Nations, though, national head coach Declan Kidney bucked provincial selection trends and kept faith with his tried and trusted second row, forcing Ryan onto the bench until O’Connell was injured against France.
“You just want to be playing games and I was delighted with the way the Six Nations went for me in terms of getting the coach’s backing to put in a performance. In some of the games you’d be disappointed in how you repaid that faith but let him down but, yeah, it was a great opportunity.
“And that’s the thing with Munster, the best players play and that’s always been the case. I know that better than anyone. There’s competition for every place and everyone’s scrapping it out and then within that you want everyone playing their part.”
When it came to playing his part during the pool stages, O’Callaghan, along with fellow senior discard Denis Leamy, earned the praise of McGahan and their team-mates for the way they put personal disappointment to one side and led by example off the bench. They were credited with helping significantly to get their team over the line in those famous last-gasp wins over both Northampton and Castres. The sight of O’Callaghan charging from the sideline into the fray was a signal of intent and if it did not lift the spirits of those already on the field, it certainly boosted morale in the stands. O’Callaghan insists there is no pretence involved.
He does not put these things on. “Not at all, the team means so much to me, honestly. Playing for Munster’s everything and when you get something like 20 or 25 minutes you have way more energy and you have to try and get as much bang for your buck as you can.
“I’d hate to in any way drain this team, that would kill me if that happened. I just want to give everything for this team. I know what it’s like to win here and it’s great and I want more of that.”
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