Paul O'Connell believes that Ireland have the potential to lift the 2015 World Cup
Sunday 28 December 2014 11:13, UK
New Zealand may have swept the board at the recent World Rugby awards by winning team of the year, player of the year (Brodie Retallick) and coach of the year (Steve Hansen) but Ireland will feel pretty happy with their year too.
They kicked off 2014 by winning the Six Nations, went to Argentina and beat the Pumas 2-0 in their two-match Test series in the summer and ended the year by beating South Africa, Georgia and Australia.
At the heart of the Ireland team was captain Paul O’Connell who was immense in both of Ireland’s wins against the Tri-Nations giants. However, the 35 year-old is not getting carried away and says there is still much to improve upon before the 2015 Six Nations and the World Cup.
“It has been a very important year and I think we have made a lot of progress and hopefully we can really kick on from here,” O’Connell told Sky Sports News HQ.
“It is an important year in terms of putting Ireland back on track and giving confidence to the side as well. To be able to operate without some really top notch players really gives us hope for the future. I think we have made really good progress and I think we have put a great foundation in place. But there is not one Six Nations team who have not got better – if they all get better and we don't then we will go backwards.
“We could have easily have lost both those games [against South Africa and Australia] and it is important to keep that perspective. There were a lot of things in those games that we were disappointed about and feel that we need to work on. When you finish a game like those you are exhausted - you also know that you will probably be playing them again really soon so you don't want to go overboard with the celebration.”
The Schmidt factor
Much of Ireland’s success has been down to new coach Joe Schmidt who took over in April 2013 and O’Connell says he is a brilliant coach to work with.
“Joe is an excellent coach and an excellent strategist. He is a brilliant communicator too – we are all trying to do the same things on the rugby field; but Joe is able to simplify it and able to get players into the right places on the field where they can use their skillset.
“It is brilliant working with him, every meeting and every training session we learn something new – and you could almost be jealous that Leinster had him for so long. The Irish set up under Joe has been incredible and I want to experience as much of that as I can.”
Dark horses
Ireland’s results have certainly not gone unnoticed and with the 2015 World Cup looming, they are many people’s dark horses for the competition which will be held in England. Even the current world champions New Zealand paid tribute to Ireland’s year by naming them in their top 10 moments of 2014 – even though they did not play each other. ‘It was the clash that we all wanted to see in 2014, but didn't,’ tweeted out the NZRFU. High praise indeed and O’Connell believes that Ireland have got what it takes to be real contenders in 2015.
“We certainly have a chance,” added O’Connell. We have shown that we can beat anyone on our day. We still don’t have the strength in depth of the southern hemisphere nations so there are certain things that will have to go our way – but I think we have the potential to win a World Cup.”
Ireland fans will be happy to hear that playing in that World Cup is high on O’Connell’s agenda but the 35-year-old is not making any plans after that.
“I don’t really know how long I can keep on going for – I want to play in the next World Cup and want to be in the best possible shape as possible. I am undecided if I will play on after the World Cup.
“It is something that plays on my mind a little bit – I don’t dread the day but I don’t think it was ever my intention to keep on playing this long. I certainly won’t be putting my hand up for Lions selection in 2017 – I’ll be long gone from the game, believe me!”
