O’Connell: All about mental toughness

By the time Ireland begin their Six Nations campaign it will have been 71 days since the cruel loss to New Zealand, but their preparations for the tournament has revolved around learning from that painful defeat.

Ireland were ahead 22-17 with just 30 seconds left at the Aviva but were turned over as the All Blacks produced a stunning last-gasp effort to score a converted try that ended home hopes of a first ever win against New Zealand.

And Joe Schmidt’s men have been forced to sit through replays of that final 120 seconds in a bid to learn what went wrong under a coach who is famous for his attention to detail.