Captain or war chief? Something of both

Ireland must take the field today without an intelligent, trusted leader

Paul O’Connell: what he brings is so rare that it’s irreplaceable Picture: Getty

A handful of years back, a colleague returned from a day in Limerick, and slumped into his office chair. For months he’d tried to get Paul O’Connell to sit alone with him, but now he looked nowhere near happy even after his efforts had paid off.

It turned out that, after time spent probing for interesting answers and anecdotes, the utterance finally came. “It’s quite futile what you do, isn’t it? I mean, ...