The Battle by Paul O’Connell is published by Penguin on Thursday. To read more exclusive extracts, go to the ‘Irish Sport’ section of the website



A few days after the Lions lost the first Test against New Zealand badly, I was on a training pitch in Wellington. After five minutes of the session, it felt as though every emotion I’d experienced since the beginning of the tour — every ounce of pressure I’d been feeling — was being multiplied by 10. Am I going mad here? Can I not take the pressure anymore?

I’d never been as worked up in training. But then I’d never taken something called Focus before putting on my boots. You could call it an energy drink, but that wouldn’t cover