Paul O’Connell may have played last game as Ireland count cost of France win

Ireland’s Rugby World Cup challenge suffered a major blow on Sunday when coach Joe Schmidt said he suspected that captain Paul O’Connell had played his last international after injuring his hamstring in their 24-9 pool-topping win over France.

The Irish prevailed despite injuries to O’Connell, fly-half Johnny Sexton and flanker Peter O’Mahony to set up a quarter-final against Argentina.

Although Schmidt is hopeful over O’Mahony, he said his captain looked unlikely to take any further part in the tournament.

"I suspect it probably is," Schmidt said when asked if O’Connell’s World Cup was over and with it his Ireland career, having announced before the competition that he would retire from international rugby at the end of the tournament.

"He looks pretty uncomfortable at the moment and I’d say we’ll get a scan on his hamstring later tomorrow. We are going to have to wait for some swelling to go down; and that’s probably the same thing for Johnny Sexton and Pete O’Mahony."

The inspirational lock with 108 Ireland caps to his name left the field on a stretcher, clutching his right leg, at halftime in the Millennium Stadium.