Paul O’Connell is not dead, but it sure feels like a massive pall of grief has enveloped Ireland.
The Munster legend’s international career is over after it was confirmed he suffered a devastating hamstring injury in last Sunday’s win over France.
The second row will now miss the rest of the World Cup while there is a sense of doubt over his scheduled move to Toulon after the tournament concludes later this month.
However a former teammate of O’Connell’s has backed the Limerick native to bounce back from the injury and feels that he can still contribute to Ireland’s World Cup, despite being sidelined.
Anthony Foley, the current Munster coach and former on-field colleague of O’Connell feels that Joe Schmidt can still use O’Connell’s experience around the camp.
“I’m disappointed for Paulie, he’s an immense character in the game and a good friend, for this to happen is a cruel blow to him.
“Knowing Paulie he’ll look to the positive side and do everything he can for the team to progress to the semi-finals, that’s the way his mind will tick over. For everyone who’s close to him and knows him, we all feel the pain that he’s going through.
“He’s been a brilliant servant to Irish rugby, you can’t say enough about what he’s done and for it to end like this in a sad day.”
O’Connell took over the Munster captaincy from Foley, and his absence will be a huge loss to an Irish squad already missing Peter O’Mahony while Johnny Sexton is also a key injury doubt for Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final with Argentina.
Munster head coach Anthony Foley said all of Irish rugby feels Paul O'Connell's pain today. #rwc2015https://t.co/Rra4KetjnJ
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) October 13, 2015
Speaking to RTE the Killaloe native feels that the Irish squad can profit despite long their talisman and is asking all the players to make an extra effort to ensure that O’Connell can get his hands on the Webb Ellis trophy at Twickenham.
“When you lose players it always gives somebody else the opportunity to get on the back of that. You can be sad in the respect of losing players but other players need to be selfish and realise it’s an opportunity for them to step in and step up and create their own career.”
“It’s about being selfish and making sure of their own performances and getting their own jobs done now and making sure they can hopefully get Paulie’s hands on that trophy.”
