Ireland U20s to gain from Paul O’Connell's coaching

Paul O’Connell will be back in a green tracksuit today as he begins the next step on his journey into coaching.

The former Munster, Ireland and Lions captain has joined Ireland’s U20 management team as an assistant coach.

The 38-year-old played his last game at the 2015 World Cup when he suffered a serious hamstring injury which forced him to retire in February 2016. He will work with recently-appointed head coach Noel McNamara and fellow assistants Ambrose Conboy and Tom Tierney.

O’Connell starts today when Ireland begin their preparations for the 2018 U20 Six Nations with a warm-up match against a Leinster Development team at Donnybrook Stadium in Dublin (12pm) before moving on to his native Limerick when the U20s face a Munster Development team at Thomond Park on Friday, December 29 (1pm).

O’Connell, who stepped away from an advisory role with the Munster academy at the end of last season, will continue with the Ireland U20s through the Six Nations campaign, which begins in Brive against France on Friday, February 2.

The U20s then have three homes games at Donnybrook against Italy on February 9, Wales on February 23 and Scotland on March 9 before ending their schedule against defending champions England at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena on Friday, March 16.

The IRFU will be delighted to have retained O’Connell’s services given reports he had been offered a coaching role at Leicester Tigers by Matt O’Connor but had turned the English club down.

New Munster head coach Johann van Graan has also expressed his wish to involve the former second-row and tap into a wealth of experience from a playing career which saw O’Connell play 108 times for Ireland, tour with the Lions three times and win two Heineken Cups with Munster in a glittering 14-season professional career.

On arriving in Munster as successor to Rassie Erasmus, van Graan said there were “some pretty amazing people here in Limerick that I’d also like to get involved at some stage” and when asked if O’Connell was one of those persons he replied: “Most definitely. I briefly spoke to him at the Racing game [in October] and we’ll meet up at some stage in the next few weeks.

“He was one of the world’s best players, played 100 Test matches for Ireland, if I’m not mistaken, and was captain of Munster, so most definitely.”