Paul O’Connell’s biggest nemesis has paid the Ireland legend a fitting tribute

What happens on the field, stays on the field.

And that’s clearly what one of Paul O’Connell’s greatest foes thought this afternoon, as he heard the sad news of the legend’s retirement. It was the hamstring that did for the giant of Irish rugby in the end, and a man who had more than a few scrapes with the lock on the field has taken to Twitter to pay a fitting tribute to the legendary No 5. Clermont’s Jamie Cudmore was one of those players who it was hard to like, and the hostility to him increased hugely when he and O’Connell were involved in fisticuffs back in 2008 in a Heineken Cup match. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQsermgwdfw  

Cudmore also had a few other swipes at the Irishman over the years, though he drew a line under that brawl when he handed O'Connell a gift of a bottle of white wine (keeping a bottle of red for himself) when Clermont and Munster met again in 2014.

And today the Canadian lock has left their troubles firmly in the past with his Twitter tribute to O'Connell. https://twitter.com/JNCudmore/status/697048358242934784 It's almost as good as Ronan O'Gara's classy tribute to his former team-mate. https://twitter.com/RonanOGara10/status/697036101559717888 Even if he had got his flag emojis mixed up. https://twitter.com/RonanOGara10/status/697038860031827968