O’Connell playing a cautious game

Given he is contracted beyond the 2015 Rugby World Cup, there is a strong belief Paul O’Connell will lead Ireland into battle in England in 15 months time.

But Munster’s talisman refuses to look that far ahead and has set targets before he meets the challenge.

“Look, I’d love to go to the World Cup but it’s something you only want to do if you’re in really good shape,” said O’Connell, who will celebrate his 36th birthday 18 days after the crucial Pool D clash with France in Cardiff.

“I’d love to go there with two big pre-seasons — this pre-season and next summer as well. If I could get there with those, I know I’d go in really good shape.

“But the game is becoming tougher and tougher, it’s going to be a really tough Autumn internationals and really tough Six Nations, so really the World Cup for me is a long way away. It’s about managing my body as best I can, try and be in the best shape I can for the autumn, the best shape I can be for the Six Nations and see where I go from there. I wouldn’t say there are any long-term plans in place.”

O’Connell, of course, remains as committed as ever to the Munster cause and is already working with the new management team, almost all home based including several with whom he has played over the years.

“The longer I’ve been around, the more I’ve realised that the best coaching set-ups are the simplest ones”, he asserted.

“There’s a fairly simple system in place at the moment, very easy to follow. And there’s incredible enthusiasm as you might imagine with what is a very young coaching staff. This is my third full week back and it’s been really enjoyable, a breath of fresh air as well. A lot of things you’d like to see happening are happening. Hopefully we’ll bring the best from the last few years. However, some of the frustrating things we did, you’d love to see them eradicated and I think they will be.”

O’Connell will have a massive role to play if Munster are to maintain their outstanding record in the new-look European Champions Cup. Straightforward as usual, he doesn’t hide from the facts.

“Look, I think if we’re being honest we’ve probably gotten lucky draws over the last few years,” he stated. “This is the toughest draw we’ve ever had. We have two of the big-money teams in the tournament in Clermont and Saracens as well as Sale who also seem to be spending plenty of money and recruiting high profile players.

“We will find out very early where we stand and where we are against the new order of European rugby, the way the French clubs have become so big, strong and powerful.

“But one of the big things the Irish provinces have is that, you hate saying the amateur ethos, but we’ll have players playing for us who grew up in the province, in a club that they grew up wanting to play for. In rugby, a sport where that emotion still plays a big role, the Irish provinces have an advantage over the other teams in that regard.”