Updated 3.50pm
LEINSTER AND IRELAND talisman Brian O’Driscoll is facing surgery on a trapped nerve and up to six months on the sidelines, it has been confirmed.
The national skipper requires an operation on the shoulder/neck area problem which has plagued him for months.
He visited specialists in the past week and confirmed to reporters – including TV3′s Sinead Kissane – in the past hour that O’Driscoll will miss the province’s entire Heineken Cup defence as well as Ireland’s Six Nations campaign.
Kissane writes on Twitter, however: “[Leinster coach] Joe Schmidt said from the medical feedback they’ve got, O’Driscoll’s surgery is not career-threatening”.
Leinster face Top 14 side Montpellier in France on Saturday in the first of their European Cup ties this season, having sat out the win over archrivals Munster at the Aviva Stadium on on Friday night.
Earlier, Schmidt told the ERC official website that he feared the worst.
“Brian has gone to some more specialists and had some more scans, so that we can either find a solution to the stinger that kind of comes and goes,” he said.
“He’s a fairly precious commodity, so we want to make sure we don’t play him in the condition that’s going to affect him in the future. We want to look after him as best we can because if we can get him right, he’s a fairly handy fellah to have.”
More to follow
