The Battle

O'Connell, Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1844882233 ISBN 13: 9781844882236

Publisher: Penguin Ireland, 2016

There has never been a rugby player quite like Paul O'Connell. His name is synonymous with passion, heart and determination. But he is also the thinking man's rugby player, a legendary student of the game.

As the heartbeat of Munster, British and Irish Lions captain in 2009, and captain of the first Ireland team to retain the Six Nations championship, O'Connell became the most beloved and respected of the golden generation of Irish rugby players - and was widely regarded as one of the very best players in the world. There was nothing inevitable - or even likely - about any of this, and in an autobiography as intense and thoughtful as its author, O'Connell explores the forces and struggles that turned him into the player and leader that he became. The Battle is a book for everyone who wants to understand the roots of achievement and the inner world of an elite sportsman. It will take its place alongside the very finest sports books of recent years.

Review:

The years of O'Connell and O'Driscoll were as close to a golden age as ever Ireland will get and O'Connell's book tells you how it all happened ... It should be mandatory for every Irish squad member to read O'Connell's book to better understand what it takes to make a team (David Walsh Sunday Times)

The intense physicality of his rugby upbringing is an abiding theme ... along with humour, the craic and an extensive knowledge of how teams work (Paul Hayward Daily Telegraph)

I found The Battle entrancing (Stephen Jones Sunday Times)

Excellent ... [an] eye-opening account of the never-ending battles he fought (Rugby World)

Fascinating ... the recollections of life with the British and Irish touring team leap out as highlights (Daily Mail)

A fascinating insight into what has driven him and how his approach to the game changed over time. The inner tensions of possibly the most intense competitor of his generation are laid bare in The Battle. (Shane Horgan Sunday Times)

Revelatory ... Unflinchingly charts his personal evolution ... He is not at all easy on himself (Keith Duggan Irish Times)

It is pure O'Connell ... Players and coaches from all sports will have the pencil out, finding nuggets (Kieran Shannon Irish Examiner)

Absorbing and compelling ... The O'Connell who dominates this book is the one who becomes fixated on the mentality of champions (Diarmaid Ferriter Irish Times)

O'Connell has emptied the tank here. ... What has come out ... is a psychological profile that is almost shocking at times in what it reveals about the bloody single-mindedness of the competitive gene (Irish Independent)

From the Back Cover:

I remember sitting alongside him in the front seat of his car as we drove home, thinking: I'm someone who wins things. If Dad thinks I'm good, then I must be.
It's strange, the way things said decades ago stick in your head, the way a few words you hear as an impressionable child can stay with you for the rest of your life ...