Paul O’Connell always puts team-mates first, says Munster boss Anthony Foley

Anthony Foley believes Paul O’Connell’s selfless nature will be the key factor in the Ireland captain’s decision on his rugby-playing future.

Few have seen O’Connell’s rugby career unfold in clearer detail than the Munster head coach, who was in the back row as the young lock made his senior debut for the province in August 2001, and again in green five months later, against Wales. Foley is as impressed now as he was then by O’Connell’s contribution to the Ireland effort, and as the iconic second row stands poised to win his 100th cap, he believes the national team captain’s decision on whether to play on beyond this autumn’s World Cup will rest on his former team-mate’s belief in his ability to remain an asset to his comrades.

“I remember being involved with Ireland (as temporary forwards coach in Gert Smal’s absence) against France in 2013 when we drew 13-all in Paris, and he played most of the second half with a damaged knee but you wouldn’t have thought it,” Foley told the Irish Examiner. “He put himself out for others and it epitomises him. It will be hard to fill those shoes and hopefully that won’t be for another few years. Ultimately his body will dictate what he does next. He’s contracted up until the end of next season but you’ve got a respect a player like that who’s done it for others. So if he feels his body isn’t up to it and because of what I said about him always putting himself before others, if he feels he can’t put himself out there for his team-mates, he’ll go down that route. But if he feels he can, he’ll stay on, I’d imagine.”

Foley described O’Connell as one of the rugby greats for those qualities which have made him one of the most consistent performers in Test rugby since that try-scoring Ireland debut in the 2002 Six Nations.

“What was he, 22 when he got capped for Ireland? So obviously to get capped as a second row at that age, he had shown a lot of potential. And it flourished.

“He’s still driving hard to reach new levels, never stops working, never stops thinking about the game and he’s a guy that players want to have in their changing room.

“He’s a very good rugby player, he makes his tackles, he’s good around the field and he knows what his job is. He ticks all the boxes in terms of what it takes to be an international second row but it is his leadership and work rate and everything around all that which makes him an exceptional player, and one that will be remembered long after he’s retired. It’s what makes him great.”

Foley was one of seven Munster forwards in the Ireland pack 13 years ago, including O’Connell’s Young Munster hero Peter Clohessy and captain Mick Galwey but although there was so much familiarity around the rookie O’Connell as he entered Ireland camp for the first time, there was still plenty of work to be done to become a Test regular.

“Claw and Gaillimh would have been there and he was a kind of a chirpy lad anyway. He knew his place but he wasn’t shy in getting physical around the team because there were a lot of very good second rows at the time, all trying to establish themselves, guys like Malcolm O’Kelly. There was a tour before the 2003 World Cup to Tonga and Samoa and he really established himself on that tour. A lot of the senior players at the time didn’t go on that tour for one reason or another and what came back from that tour was that this guy had something special about him.”

And as the 100th Ireland cap arrives tomorrow in Cardiff, with Wales once again the opponents, Foley believes something special remains about O’Connell. “He’s still driving hard, still wants to win trophies, still very ambitious and still willing to put himself out there for others. And that’s why the guys in the Irish changing room will be looking over at him, understanding what job they need to do, because they know what he’s going to give. They’ll want to try and surpass his involvement in the game and if they do that, they’ll probably have a great game because he’s just one of those guys that turns up for others and what he does for others surpasses what he does for himself. I think that’s the best thing you can say about a player in a team sport.”