Captain Paul O’Connell will join fellow Munster man Conor Murray on the sidelines for the rest of the RBS 6 Nations as Ireland’s campaign sinks further and further down the tube.
Scrum half Murray was helped from the field with a serious-looking knee injury during Sunday’s 17-17 draw with France in Paris.
O’Connell finished the game at the Stade de France – and was notably peeved with the result in post-match interviews – but it has now come to light that knee ligament damage will keep him on the sidelines for between three and six weeks.
Remarkably, Murray’s injury is not seen as so serious, with scans revealing nothing more than bad bruising, for which he has been given a 3-4 week recovery timeframe.
The bad news for Ireland coach Declan Kidney is that his fellow Munster men will play no part in the remaining Six Nations games against Scotland on Saturday and England on St Patrick’s Day.
And the Munster backroom team will also be keeping fingers crossed that they can make a quick recovery, with the Heineken Cup quarter-final against Ulster now less than five weeks away.
Murray’s fellow Munster man Tomas O’Leary drafted in to provide cover at scrum half, where Eoin Reddan will start against the Scots this weekend, while Connacht forward Mike McCarthy will replace O’Connell in the squad this week.
All of which prompts the question: with Brian O’Driscoll and now Paul O’Connell sidelined, who should captain Ireland this weekend?
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