Paul O’Connell Almost Missed Out On The Lions Captaincy Because Of A Hilarious Mix-Up

Many stories have surfaced the last few days from Paul O’Connell’s legendary career and this one is one of the best.

O’Connell’s test career is officially over and the leaves behind an incredible 13 years that saw him capped 108 times for his country, and also lead out the British and Irish Lions on their 2009 tour of South Africa.

When Ian McGeechan called him about the Lions captaincy however, apparently he wasn’t too convinced, due to a major mix-up in their first phone conversation.

The Scot described to Off The Ball last night O’Connell’s cagey reaction to their first phone calls in 2009:

“The first time I rang him to tell him he was captain he thought I was an insurance man from England trying to sell him insurance.  He was always wary of UK numbers so it took me three go’s to get through to him. But I came across and to Ireland and we spent a day together just talking about what we wanted to do and how we wanted to achieve that.”