RWC 2015: Ireland's problems pile up after Sean O’Brien is banned

Lions Test back-rower suspended for punching France's Pascal Papé in Cardiff

Sean O’Brien punched France’s Pascal Papé in Cardiff (AP)

Ireland’s problems ahead of this weekend’s World Cup quarter-final with Argentina, already serious enough following the tournament-ending injuries to the captain Paul O’Connell and the flanker Peter O’Mahony, intensified when they lost their Lions Test back-rower Sean O’Brien to suspension. O’Brien was banned for one game after pleading guilty to striking the French lock Pascal Papé during last Sunday’s pool victory in Cardiff.

Terry Willis, the judicial officer from Australia, decided that O’Brien’s offence – a punch to the chest that left Papé in need of prolonged treatment – was low on the list of rugby’s deadly sins and gave the Leinster forward credit for his clean disciplinary record and expression of remorse. But he felt unable to sanction his participation against the Pumas. If Ireland prevail at the Millennium Stadium, O’Brien will be available for the semi-final.

The Six Nations champions could have done without this development, having waved goodbye to their captain earlier in the day. O’Connell, just about the highest-profile player to be invalided out of a World Cup that may well be the most physically demanding yet, will undergo surgery on his ravaged hamstring later this week. Nobody knows when, or indeed if, he will play again – he was due to join the European champions Toulon at the end of this competition – but his international career is definitely over.

“It’s hard to put into words,” said O’Connell’s partner in the engine room of the green-shirted scrum, Devin Toner, as he reflected on the sudden disappearance of the team’s fixed point. “We’ll miss him, everyone knows that: he was our leader, our captain, the brains behind a lot of our forward play. Has he made me a better player? A hundred per cent. We’ve lost people before, but this is a bigger thing than usual. We’ll have to dig deeper.”

O’Connell was hurt during the France game, as was the outstanding O’Mahony. There was no firm news on the precise extent of the captain’s injury – reports that the three-tour Lion’s hamstring had been ripped from the bone went unconfirmed – but Les Kiss, the team’s defence coach, was quick to join Toner in singing his praises.

“What was it like working with him? The first word I think of is ‘privilege’,” the Australian said. “You can talk about all the many things he gave you as an international rugby player, but I’d describe him as one of the game’s true warriors. He’s a completely selfless sort.”

With another senior player, the outside-half Jonathan Sexton, struggling with a strained adductor muscle, the level of threat from the South Americans is growing in Irish minds. “When we played the Pumas in Argentina last year, it took us for ever and a day to get the result,” Kiss said. “We expect nothing different this weekend. We’ve already seen some superb defensive performances at this World Cup and I think we’re getting to the point where we’ll need to really fight for each other – to find something in ourselves that goes beyond explanation.”

Jérôme Garcès of France will referee the Ireland-Argentina game, while Craig Joubert of South Africa – the man whose control of the 2011 final between New Zealand and France in Auckland attracted a good deal of criticism – has been awarded the Australia-Scotland tie at Twickenham later on Sunday afternoon. The big Saturday games have gone to the two leading British referees: Wayne Barnes of England, who will run the South Africa-Wales match in London, and the Welsh official Nigel Owens, who will take charge of the rematch between the All Blacks and the Tricolores in Cardiff.