Ireland have had to bid goodbye to captain and talisman Paul O’Connell after the influential lock’s international career was ended by injury.
Munster and Ireland captain O’Connell, 35, was seen lying on the pitch at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday in clear distress after tearing his hamstring and had to be carried off on a stretcher as his side secured the top spot of Pool D.
As reported by the BBC, Jamie Heaslip will now be given the captaincy of a side who are now missing two key figures after Peter O’Mahony also had to be removed with knee ligament damage.
A statement from Irish Rugby declared that: “Paul O’Connell suffered a significant hamstring injury and will undergo surgery this week.
“Paul will not play again at Rugby World Cup 2015 and his time out of the game will depend on the outcome of the surgery.”
O’Connell had already admitted before the start of the tournament that this would be his last campaign with the national side before moving to France with Toulon and many teammates and fans will be sad to see that injury has forced him to quit.
Following the victory on Sunday, with the severity of the injury still yet to be known, Cian Healy admitted to Sky Sports that the squad would rally around O’Connell and will look to win the World Cup for their stricken captain.
“Hopefully Paul will be alright, but you get dealt those hands sometimes,” said Healy after Ireland secured a quarter-final against Argentina.
“Being the fella he is and seeing how hard he’s worked, that would be the case, you dig in and you’d want to put on a show for him.
“Hopefully he’ll be okay, but if not then that will definitely give us extra motivation.”
Joe Schmidt and his side are also sweating over the availability of Sean O’Brien and Jonny Sexton with the former being cited for a punch on French lock Pascal Pape whilst Sexton was forced off with a groin injury although early signs are promising.
Leinster’s Mick McCarthy has been called up in place of O’Connell whilst Ulster’s Iain Henderson is expected to start against Argentina on Saturday.
