Paul O’Connell’s injury problems are not long-term and he is expected to return to action next season, Ireland coach Paul McNaughton has claimed.
O’Connell was forced to withdraw from Ireland’s upcoming tour to New Zealand and Australia last on Friday.
The Munster player was been out of action since picking up an infection stemming from an injection he was given for an ongoing groin injury.
However, McNaughton has maintained that he expects him to fully recover within months: “Our honest view is that he is recovering and that he will be fit next season and the only reason we’re not bringing him on tour is that he wouldn’t have been fit for any of the matches,” said the Ireland boss.
He continued, “We’re all expecting him to be playing after a good pre-season.”
O’Connell meanwhile has revealed his frustration at being left on the side-lines: “It’s been the most unbelievably frustrating and annoying thing I’ve ever had,”, he said yesterday. “And I’m just still on antibiotics trying to get it right. It’s proving resistant. It’s a question of what the body can take. I haven’t reacted too well to them.
“I had a small bit of pain in it all along – nothing I paid much attention to and it just got progressively worse, and got progressively worse while doing very little. That’s why it’s so annoying. It’s not like an injury.”
