No ‘psychotic eye’ but Scots still put out of sight in style

Big news. Distressing news. Bigger than the death of a Pope, more distressing even than Willie O’Dea announcing his retirement from politics and departure for a life of silence in a Trappist monastery. It turns out that the other Greatest Living Limerick Man, Paul O’Connell, has a chest infection and has had to cry off.

Down at pitchside Ronan O’Gara announces that he can’t begin to describe the qualities that Paulie brings to the team. Then he proceeds to disprove himself comprehensively by describing them in minute detail. The intensity of the man, the way he drives his colleagues on, the demands he puts on them, the ‘psychotic eye’ of him. The output of the Irish pack will be ‘25% less’ in his absence, Ronan estimates.

“He’s not a once-in-a-generation player, he’s a freak.” Heaven forbid the innocent viewer ever ends up in a room with O’Connell and Roy Keane. Imagine all those psychotic eyes. Eeek! And you thought the all-seeing eye of Mordor was frightening...