Ireland’s Peter O’Mahony is tackled by France’s Louis Picamoles during the Rugby World Cup Pool D match between France and Ireland at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Sunday, October 11, 2015. “Initial clinical assessment is encouraging and it is scanning later today”.
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In a medical update on Monday morning, the IRFU also confirmed that Paul O’Connell is in hospital awaiting a scan.
Ireland are 9/4 to reach the Rugby World Cup final after Sunday’s impressive victory against France ensured they avoid New Zealand for as long as possible.
Openside flanker Sean O’Brien could also be missing after being cited for swinging his forearm into France lock Pascal Pape’s stomach during Sunday’s game. “Just the way he carried himself, fitted into the group even for a young man. He was athletic, he got things very quickly, he didn’t have to be explained things twice and players wanted to play with him”, said Foley of his early impressions of the second row.
“No decision on squad replacements for Peter O’Mahony or Jared Payne has been made as yet”.
While O’Driscoll and his “glamour boys” from Leinster played lively cavalier rugby, O’Connell drove a pack-oriented game for Munster, relying largely on Ronan O’Gara’s boot for points.
“He’s having scans later today to clarify the extent of the injury”.
Ireland’s World Cup team on Tuesday hail captain Paul O’Connell as “a leader, a warrior, a gentleman” as his global career came to an end.
“From the start of the week we knew how tough it was going to be”, he said.
“So we don’t have much time to sit around and think about this great performance we had yesterday, we have to move on really quickly”.
Kearney hailed O’Connell for “beaming ear to ear” at Ireland’s victory, despite fearing the worst on a personal front.
“If you look at past games whenever Ireland have faltered, it’s usually Paulie (O’Connell) that generates something, smashes someone or gets the ball and does something different”.
Schmidt also commented on the injuries to a few of his key players, “No, Paul wasn’t in at half-time at all really and neither was Jonny”.
“That was brilliant to see and a great sign of the man that he was able to put his own woes behind him and think of the team’s achievement first”.
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“I suppose the fact that he’s been around more than any of us at World Cups, it is hard for him”, Kearney said, accepting O’Connell’s fate. It’s hopefully not something that impacts on us considering the dressing room at the moment.
