Yet another thing to thank Paul O’Connell for.
CJ Stander put in a man of the match display on his Test debut against Wales last weekend, but he has revealed that he might have packed in the game were it not for O’Connell.
When he left his native South Africa and the Bulls for Munster in 2012 the young back-row was taking a gamble and for times it was a gamble that did not appear to be paying off.
Now the stand-in captain, Stander’s first season in Ireland did not hint at his glorious future – he made only seven appearances under Rob Penney and may have packed it in if it wasn’t for the encouragement of O’Connell.
“He saved my career for sure,” Stander told the Irish Examiner. “After the first year at Munster it was tough but he came to me after every team announcement and just said ‘keep the faith lad, keep the faith’.
“I’d be close to almost crying and he’d come up to me, this mountain of a man, Paul O’Connell. He doesn’t have to talk to me, he’s the captain of Ireland and he can just go on and do his own stuff.
“But that’s the type of man he is. It’s never about him, always about the team. He’d come to me and say ‘listen here, keep the faith’.
“I’d be at the back of the bus in the corner and he’s in the middle and they’re joking and listening to what he has to say. For me, from South Africa, thinking I would play alongside a guy like that, I can’t put that into words.”
