Ireland’s largest victory over France since 1975 has teed up a last-eight battle with Argentina at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday, but head coach Schmidt has been forced to fend off considerable collateral damage. O’Brien escaped punishment from referee Nigel Owen at the time, but he will now sweat on the extent of the punishment.
Advertisement
Ireland are watching nervously for any citing against flanker O’Brien, who appeared to strike France lock Pape in the first minute of the intense World Cup clash in Cardiff. Law 10.4(a) deals with striking.
A disciplinary hearing got underway at 1pm on Tuesday in London, with the case being heard by Willis.
“They were playing unbelievably and that’s the heartbreaking thing”.
Ireland play Argentina in the quarter-finals this Sunday, while a potential semi-final is scheduled for the following Sunday if Ireland progress past the Pumas.
O’Connell was due to retire from the Test arena at the end of the World Cup, but the severity of his injury has now accelerated that process.
“Usually you go back to the footage”.
“He just keeps going when there’s a brick wall in front of him”. That spell may be truncated because of surgery.
“I’ve put plenty of time into that and I’m looking forward to it”. The golf ball, meanwhile, toppled off the tee and came to rest a couple of inches in front.
It was back to the serious stuff on Tuesday as the squad returned to light training and coach Joe Schmidt tried to figure out how to replace potentially five of his front-line players against Argentina.
Ireland are yet to name a replacement for centre Jared Payne, but started their cavalry call by adding 24-year-old Leinster flanker Rhys Ruddock to their ranks to offset the loss of O’Mahony.
Advertisement
Henry returned to the Ireland team only in May after having a mini-stroke ahead of the November test with South Africa a year ago.
