Six Nations 2025: Ireland won’t use retirements as motivation against France – Paul O’Connell
Paul O’Connell said Ireland will not need to motivate the emotions of coming retirement as a motivation when they face the Six-Nation champion France on March 8 (14:15 GMT).
The highly anticipated Aviva Stadium encounter will be a top two showdown and say goodbye to Ireland’s great Peter Omani, Connor Murray and Cian Healy, who will retire from Test rugby at the end of the game.
But the victory over Les Bleus will leave Ireland with one game left, O’Connell said the team can be trusted to focus on the work at hand.
“The boys won’t rely heavily on emotions,” said the forward coach, who played for Omahoney and Murray of the trio and Munster.
“It’s icing on the cake, not the icing on the cake on the whole cake. I don’t think we’re using it for emotions or helping us win games. It’s more about tagging their contributions.
“It’s not always easy for them. They have to keep coming back and keep fighting for their position. Pete has been in and out for the past few years, and like Conor Murray, Cian has had to reinvent himself and figure out a way to stay in the group.”
O’Connell won the 2014 and 2015 Six Nations titles and won the championship next to the retired trio: “As I said, they liked it to the extent that they brought overall enjoyment to all players and coaches.
“They have to work very hard, so it’s about marking their contribution, not using it as any motivation for us.
“I just think we don’t need it this weekend, and we’ll be fine when we know how important it is and how serious it is, but when we’re under pressure we’re so clear and calm again, we’ll be fine.”
