Paul O'Connell suffers an injury – Rugby News Update
The 32-year-old mercurial Ireland and Munster lock has suffered an injury, which might force him out of action for a few months.
The forwards’ coach of Munster, Anthony Foley, who are also the defending champions of PRO12 said, "At the moment, he is in there with ice on (his leg). In the next 24 to 48 hours we'll know more."
The injury incident took place during the match against Ulster on Saturday, 5th May at Thomond Park, Limerick. Munster won the game 36 – 8 to setup a semi-final clash against Ospreys on Friday night. It seems that O’Connell will miss the match
and the subsequent tour of New Zealand, which is due to start on the 9th of June at Auckland.
Ireland is playing a three-match test series against the All Blacks’ starting at Auckland and then they play two further matches at Christchurch on June 16 and the final game is at Hamilton on June 23. Before they leave for the tour, the Irish play the Barbarians
at Gloucester on May 29.
O’Connell fortunately will not be able to take part and his career has been blighted by injury. He has had a groin problem that kept him out for a while, and most recently in December he was out for injury, after he was named Ireland’s captain for the 2012
Six Nations tournament.
Munster coach, Tony McGahan, also commented on the injury that his talisman incurred, saying that the signs are not good by the looks of it.
"He was assisted off the field so that's a good indicator, not a good sign," said Munster coach Tony McGahan. "It's the same knee, but the injury he had before was more of a cut, an infection in there - this one is more of a twist, so we will have to wait
and see."
Paul O’Connell made his Ireland debut against Wales in 2002 at Lansdowne Road, marking the occasion with a try. Big things were expected of the lock, and he had played for the Irish Schools in 1997-1998. In total he has played 91 tests, of which 85 have
been for Ireland and 6 for the British and Irish Lions. He has also captained the Lions, the 10th Irishman to do so.
Tags: