O’Connell And Murray Ruled Out For Rest Of Championship

Ireland captain Paul O’Connell and scrum half Conor Murray have both been ruled out of the rest of the RBS 6 Nations Championship having picked up injuries in the game against France.

Ireland captain Paul O’Connell underwent a scan on his left knee after twisting it during the game and it has shown that he has picked up an injury to his medial collateral ligament.

The injury will rule him out of the next two games with an expected three to six-week recovery period.

Scrum half Conor Murray was replaced in the 59th minute of the game after falling awkwardly on his right knee.

A scan has revealed bone bruising in the joint and while there has been no significant damage done to his ligaments, the injury does rule him out of contention for Ireland’s remaining two matches of the Championship with an expected three to four-week recovery period.

The extended Ireland squad will return to camp this evening with Munster scrum half Tomas O’Leary and Connacht lock/flanker Mike McCarthy being added to the squad to cover the injuries to Murray and O’Connell respectively.