The ruling is the latest in a long line of controversial judgements made by World Rugby during the tournament, which has included Samoa’s Alesana Tuilagi being given an initial five-week ban – which was subsequently reduced – after catching Japan’s Harumichi Tateawa with his knee.
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Joe Schmidt usually wants to see his players on the training field by Tuesday or Wednesday of a match week if he is to select them, but Feek acknowledges that the knock-out nature of the Pumas clash allows for a few leeway. They were also sweating on the fitness of flyhalf Johnny Sexton, who picked up a groin injury against France.
“The suspension takes effect immediately, therefore O’Brien is suspended for Ireland’s quarter-final match against Argentina on Sunday, 18 October, 2015”.
While a price increase is to be expected in any city that’s hosting a sporting event, the Trivago Hotel Price Index (tHPI) for October 2015 has noted a startling increase in the cost of a hotel room in Cardiff on the eve of the quarter-final with Argentina.
“We’ve a history of winning, which we didn’t in 2003 (World Cup)”.
“Football in Argentina is like that, we have the best players in Messi and Maradona. It’s realistic to think we’ll go further than we have before”.
It is the high expectation of the Northern Hemisphere side that makes their injury toll all the more painful.
His suspension deals another blow to Ireland’s severely depleted ranks having lost captain Paul O’Connell and another outstanding flanker Peter O’Mahony to injuries suffered in the brutal 24-9 victory over France on Sunday.
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While they still have the opportunity to create one of the greatest survival stories in the game, for this World Cup at least, the luck has certainly not been with the Irish.
