MUNSTER CAPTAIN PAUL O’Connell is likely to face a disciplinary hearing either tomorrow or Wedensday after he was sent off against Ospreys in Thomond Park on Sunday.

The lock lashed out at Jonathon Thomas during his Heineken Cup comeback tie. Do you think this deserved a red?

O’Connell could now miss some of Ireland’s Six Nations matches with any ban probably stretching into the spring. Ireland’s opener against Italy is just eight weeks away.

And, of course, O’Connell’s absence will be keenly felt by Munster in their European campaign.

Referee Christophe Berdos did not see the incident at first but after consultation with his assistant David Rose, he decided that a red card was justified.

A ‘slightly stunned‘ Munster coach Tony McGahan revealed, immediately after the full-time whistle that  he had yet to speak to his captain.

But, referring to the red card McGahan said: “I was hoping I was colour blind! But unfortunately my eyesight is good enough because I’m still young.” He added:

We had a brief look at it. We really haven’t looked at it in enough depth to give any real comment.

What we saw was the same as what everyone else saw, a reaction to (Thomas) holding onto the jersey. I’ll have to give it a bit more thought.

It doesn’t serve any purpose for us to get caught up in that while the game was going on.

Ospreys forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys said afterwards:

First of all, Paul O’Connell is not a dirty player by any stretch of the imagination. A similar thing happened to Gavin Henson for a similar incident and unfortunately he got 10 weeks for that.

We have a lot of admiration for Paul as a player. He is a very iconic figure here. So it is disappointing for him.

He could miss a large chunk of the season now. I was shocked really, but we just had to get on and deal with it.