The IRFU confirmed on Tuesday that Paul O'Connell has played his final game in an Ireland shirt.
The reason is a severe hamstring injury which the Ireland captain sustained late in the first half of the Pool D decider against France on Sunday.
Despite the injury - which deep down he likely knew meant that his World Cup and his Ireland career was over - Rob Kearney told of the delight on O'Connell's once his teammates had emerged victorious.
At half-time it was mixed emotions, seeing your captain injured heavily.
We felt awful for him but it was great to see the sheer delight on his face after the game in terms of what we’d achieved as opposed to feeling sorry for himself.
That was brilliant to see and a great sign of the man that he was able to put his own woes behind him and think of the team’s achievement first.
He was just delighted, he was beaming from ear to ear.
And when you consider that he was so happy and ecstatic after the game given the pain he was in at half-time, it’s small moments like that that make changing rooms after games really special.
Remember that the injury is thought to be a hamstring avulsion, meaning that the muscle was torn off the bone. Given the pain that would cause, it was an achievement just to strike a smile.
Picture credit: Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE
via RTÉ.ie
