High praise indeed.
Munster, Donncha O’Callaghan and Peter Stringer have been praised quite highly by Worcester Warriors’ Director of Rugby, Gary Gold.
Of course, both O’Callaghan and Stringer are no longer with Munster, with the pair plying their trade in England’s Aviva Premiership for the Warriors and Sale Sharks, respectively.
O’Callaghan, recently told SportsJOE’s new rugby podcast, The Hard Yards, that his side need to push on after their excellent victory over league leaders Saracens at the weekend.
O’Callaghan iterated that this result would mean nothing if they cannot follow it up.
The Cork man captained his side in that victory over Saracens and he looks set to do so again this weekend against the Exeter Chiefs. His determination and leadership hasn’t gone unnoticed by Gold, who had this to say about the charismatic 37-year-old.
“I got the impression Donncha relished the leadership role and I thought he played one of his better games for a while.
“Donncha might be 37 years old but he’s an outstanding professional who looks after himself incredibly well,” Gold told the Worcester News.
There is no secret about how well O’Callaghan and Stringer look after themselves which is evident in how they are still playing at the top level in their late thirties.
This level of determination, drive and professionalism undoubtedly comes from within themselves but Gold alludes to the fact that it may also be due to the club which both players originally played for.
“I’ve been so impressed by him (O’Callaghan) as a person and he’s not dissimilar to Peter Stringer from when I worked with him.
“Clearly, there’s an outstanding culture where those two come from and are brilliant professionals. I think Donncha is exactly the type of guy we need to carry on leading the club.”
Both players of course, spent the majority of their careers with the southern province and the standards which were set in that time, in addition to the urge to prove people wrong after they both had to find first-team rugby elsewhere are important factors in their ability as rugby players today.
