Paul O’Connell relishing watching brief as Ireland’s forwards put through their paces

Gordon D’Arcy: There’s an opportunity for a team like Fiji to do something incredibly special at this Rugby World Cup

“But when I think of myself now as a retired player eight years later, I’m physically in a very good place where some guys struggle and I don’t know if I would be in such a good place if I spent 18 months down in France when Toulon were beginning to struggle a little bit. So, that’s the silver lining of it I suppose,” he said with a wry grin.

“Physically, a lot of us were incredibly committed but these guys – there’s some serious athletes in the team, particularly in the forward pack. Guys that can accelerate quickly, they can change direction really quick,” said O’Connell, with the new breed of Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Rónan Kelleher, James Ryan and Caelan Doris in mind.

As expected, O’Connell confirmed that one of those aforementioned new breed of Irish forwards, namely Sheehan, will not have recovered in time for Romania from the sprained ligament in his foot which he sustained against England last Saturday week.

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