Paul O'Connell has spoken about how he has come to terms with retirement and is set for life after rugby.
The former Munster, Ireland and Lions captain was speaking this morning to RTÉ Radio One's Michael Corcoran about his decision to retire after suffering a hamstring injury in the World Cup against France in Cardiff last year.
Despite the injury which robbed O'Connell of his spell in France, he spoke about how lucky he was to have the career he had. "I consider myself very lucky. It's unfortunate what happened in the French game. I think I've been very lucky on the whole."
The retirement decision was easy to make for O'Connell when he was given medical advice. "It isn't really a decision that's difficult. You're either going to get back to being able to be strong and fast and powerful again, or you're not. That makes the decision for you."
O'Connell was never given the opportunity to play for Toulon due to injury. He added that the head coach Diego Dominguez was "very good" when told of O'Connell's retirement decision. The Limerick native added the initial reaction of Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal was to slag him about playing in Toulon's home ground. Boudjellal told O'Connell; "You'll never be able to say you won at (Stade) Mayol.
Now that O'Connell's career is over, he is unsure what the future holds apart from playing lots of golf. "I love playing golf. I literally haven't played golf in the last three or four years for fear of getting injured. I'd literally been avoiding injury and staying on the pitch has been my main focus."
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