Coaching looks a natural progression for Paul O'Connell

Paul O’Connell may be in two minds about the prospect of a career in coaching, but there are no doubts among his former team-mates as to whether the former Munster and Ireland captain has what it takes to succeed on the far side of the tramlines. 

The man himself put it succinctly yesterday morning when discussing his possible future paths, of which coaching is just the one: Sometimes it seems like a road he would dearly love, at others it is one he would want to avoid above all others.

He is hardly alone in having thought that.