Sean O’Brien’s accursed run in jerseys blue and green continued at Stade de France this afternoon.
So much for getting our hopes up.
Joe Schmidt may be missing so many trusted lieutenants but with a back row of CJ Stander, Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip, Ireland went into this Six Nations game with a fearful, and feared, unit.
In the opening 18 minutes, Ireland made most of the running and both O’Brien and Stander looked primed for a big, big day.
Stander began the match as a marked man but it was The Tullow Tank that made the in-roads. He was almost over in the corner, off a lineout, and there was another barracking assault into the French 22. Ireland were 3-0 up and threatening more.
And then the wheels came off.
One last carry – O’Brien’s third – and he was down. He knew immediately that his day was over. That tight, doubtful, stressed hamstring looked as if it could no longer carry his hulking frame. RTE commentators said it was a knee injury but we await post-match confirmation.
Even sitting in the upper west stand, you could see the heartbreak on O’Brien’s face.
He has played 42 games since his debut, just over eight years ago. It works out at just over five Test outings a year but Ireland play an average of 11 in a calendar year. He has missed more games than he has played for Ireland and the story at provincial level is not much better.
Should O’Brien have played today? It is a question Schmidt must deal with but I’m not so sure.
Joe Schmidt was well aware of the flanker’s tender hamstring yet, on the back of two extremely light work-outs, pitched him in against the French on what turned out to be a rain-sodden pitch. A nightmare for hamstrings.
If indeed the hamstring did survive, was there no logic for reserving O’Brien for a bench role? Pitching him straight into battle after so little rugby was always a tight call.
Schmidt had Tommy O’Donnell to call on but opted for O’Brien. With so many key players missing, he may have felt compelled to start the big guy. As he has said in the past, it is better to start a player who may not be 100% rather than have him on the bench. That way, there is a mobile replacement at hand.
Schmidt may argue otherwise but he appeared to gamble on the injury-prone O’Brien and got it wrong.
