Let’s hope he wasn’t trying out his recently attempted form of spontaneous, unscripted comedy.
Paul O’Connell is two months away from his fourth and final World Cup campaign.
2003 promised much, 2007 was a disaster and 2011, he says, was the best balance between work, rest and play.
Ireland reached the quarter-finals that year, but fell over a Welsh stumbling block.
The latest training camp, under Joe Schmidt, has struck upon that 2011 balance with, the Ireland captain hopes, subtle improvements.
Schmidt has certainly taken care of any cabin fever notions. The team are in Galway at present and while Carton House, Kildare, will be the base, the squad will get out on a few more excursions, and spend down-time with family, before the serious stuff begins.
The Ireland coach has also ensure his troops are well entertained. Hermitage Green staged a gig for the squad during the Six Nations and, last night, one of Ireland’s top comedians dropped by for a private audience.
‘Tommy Tiernan came into the camp,’ says O’Connell. ‘He was excellent. The lads really enjoyed it.’
O’Connell adds, ‘At the moment, the focus is on this five-week spell before we go into the Test Series in the summer [August]. At the moment, there has been very little mention of the Six Nations or the World Cup.
‘At training today, we were put under big pressure from the start, right until the end.
‘If you look too far ahead, you just won’t perform or get selected. That’s the mantra we are working with at the moment and it has worked really well for us over the last few campaigns.’
Canterbury launched their new Ireland jerseys for the World Cup at a special event, today, in Galway. The home and away jerseys will be available to buy from July 24.
