O’Donnell’s Road To Recovery

Before his departure for Ireland camp in preparation for this year’s RBS 6 Nations, we sat down with Munster back-row Tommy O’Donnell. Excelling on the field since his return to action, the 28-year-old discusses the holistic approach to his successful and timely rehab, and looks ahead to the upcoming Championship.

August 8^th 2015, at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, 75 minutes into Ireland’s World Cup warm-up clash with Wales at the Millennium Stadium, and after impressing in a convincing 21-35 win, O’Donnell’s World Cup dreams were dashed when he sustained a freak hip dislocation, an injury that initially deemed the Tipp-man out of contention until at least the New Year.
 
Fast forward to December 27^th, a sold out Thomond Park as Munster host Leinster in the Guinness PRO12, and one of the largest cheers on the night is reserved for Tommy as he makes his return to action ahead of schedule, and immediately rediscovering the form that made him a forerunner for inclusion in Joe Schmidt’s World Cup plans.
 
Going on to make a further four appearances in red this season, the academy graduate was deservedly one of seven Munster players selected in the Ireland training squad for Rounds 1 and 2 of the upcoming 6 Nations.
 
“It’s great to be where I am at the moment.  I would have bitten the hand off you if you told me I’d be where I am now when the injury first happened.  I’m delighted to be back and thankfully things have gone well for me on the pitch.”
 
“In my own head I had actually written off the 6 Nations.  That made coming back easier in that I didn’t put that pressure on myself to make it – I just focused on performing.  Focusing on things one game at a time is key to performing, not being worried about selection and what’s coming down the road.”
 
When asked if it was tough to watch the respective fortunes of Ireland and Munster from his couch or in the stands, O’Donnell revealed a pragmatic perspective that provided him with peace of mind throughout his rehab, Argentina being the one exception.
 
“The whole World Cup was grand until the Argentina game when we were down a few players and I felt that I could have helped out if fit.  Other than that they were going swimmingly and I was enjoying sitting back and watching them play.  
 
“With Munster, obviously it was tough to watch that rough period we had, but in your own mind you know that you need to be fully fit coming back, and even after that it will take you a couple of games to get up to speed.
 
“There is a bit of a conflict, in that you want to be back and help, but you also know that to do that, you need to be firing at 95% or more to make that difference.”
 
If some hit the ground running on their return from injury, the very least that can be said about Tommy is that he hit the ground sprinting, making an immediate impact and helping Munster to a 7-9 away win over Ulster on his first start back. 
 
The back-row’s dogged determination and effort was matched by those in the Munster S&C, physio and medical departments, playing an essential role in returning Tommy to peak condition.
 
“The work that they do is excellent and I think Mike Sherry’s case is a standout example.  They rehabbed him after a horrific series of injures.  My injury was pretty bad also and we approached it by taking six weeks off to recharge the batteries and unwind from rugby.
 
“That allowed me to come back fresh and approach the injury from a holistic point of view to become a better athlete.  Therefore we didn’t just focus on the hip itself, we focused on posture and my strength overall and paid particular attention to putting energy down and being more efficient on the pitch.
 
“Obviously I’ve had bad injuries before so I knew how the process was going to pan out once we got back rehabbing and then I wasn’t shocked how quickly the time passed and game time came around.
 
“I walked on the pitch knowing I was ready to go and was more worried about performing than I was about the injury.  I had resigned to the fact it was a freak injury two weeks after it happened.  I wasn’t afraid of it happening again, I knew that I could fall that way a million times and it wouldn’t happen again – there was no malice in it, I was just unlucky in the way I landed.
 
“I rehabbed with that mindset.  The way it was healing, I knew it was very very strong and I was confident about it.  I tested it out a lot with the return to contact protocols so I knew when I was stepping on the pitch that I was ready to go and the hip was in a really good place.  It was probably better than it was before I got injured.”
 
O’Donnell now hopes to add to his tally of nine international caps and win selection in Joe Schmidt’s matchday 23 as Ireland start the defence of their 6 Nations title against Wales at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday, kick-off 3pm.   Ireland enter this year’s championship off the back of the disappointing defeat to Argentina in the World Cup quarter-finals, but the Munster-man is enthused and hopeful as Ireland look to write a new chapter in Irish sporting history and become the first team to win three 6 Nations titles in a row.
 
“You just need to draw a line after every competition because next time there will inevitably be a slightly different squad with new players.  Obviously there will be a lot of the same teams with the same rivalries but there will be new squads, new players, new coaches and new threats – look at France and England for example.
 
“You can’t approach this year’s 6 Nations based on other competitions and performances.  We’ll have a good mix of newer faces and experienced guys heading into this the campaign and we need to draw a line under the World Cup and approach this as a whole new year.
 
“It will be different from the World Cup anyway because it’s spring where we always have good weather mixed with bad and we certainly won’t have the glorious dry ball that they had at England 2015. 
 
“It’s going to be tough, it always is and so many of the games are going to come down to the kick of a ball.  The way things have been going I think it’s going to be a last day finale for whoever is going to win it.”
 
Joe Schmidt will name his side to face Wales at lunchtime on Friday.