Rory O'Connor

He was able to talk right up until the last time I heard him talk with incredible clarity about it.

He was able to recall...

the injury trails he had going into the race what it was like in the race what the stadium was like he was he had a remarkable mind he had a remarkable ability to conjure up the images of the day and yeah i think just the reason we didn't hear from him as often as i'd say he would happily come in and chat and was just because it was so long ago when he was almost his name from a bygone age even though he was still around and he was a lovely warm man he was um

He was an icon, like he was on the front cover of Sports Illustrated in his day.

And yeah, it's just that it happened so long ago that he almost got to see his own legacy kind of remembered in its own way.

But it was so long ago and even the footage re-emerging this week.

it's amazing to watch the the um the green jersey emerge in that final 100 meters like what an achievement you know it's it's not stood the test of time and i'm called then he wrote a an unbelievable piece i think kind of giving its context and kind of what it meant and what the 1500 would have meant in that time in melbourne it was uh yeah it's sad but you know a life written uh greatly lived and and you know 91 was a great age to get to as well

It's more blurred than that, Joe.

There's professionals playing in the AIL.

They are.

Yeah, they would be.

But they are rubbing shoulders with players who could be professionals in six months' time because they're playing for contracts.

It's an elite level.

There should be greater, certainly in 1A, 1B, there should be a greater degree of testing.

I think there's Connacht players playing in 2A as well.

So that number was so straight.

Well, firstly, the confusion between Sport Ireland, the RFU had no confusion.

They said this is a Sport Ireland issue.

But the fact that a Sport Ireland official didn't know or wasn't aware that they had responsibility, that jumps off the page to me.

The work Chris Ben did was, is really admirable in that front.