Kearney concern
Full-back fears injuries may scupper Ireland
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know other teams are suffering too.”
Asked whether O’Connell now feared the worst, Kearney replied: “Yes, he probably does. There’s not much I can say here, in the next 30 seconds, that gives testament to his contribution to Irish rugby: if he’s ruled out, it’s going to be a monumental loss. He’s looked as though he’s been really enjoying his rugby and when it’s like that, guys get the best out of themselves. If he can’t continue in this tournament, it will be massively disappointing.”
O’Brien’s disciplinary citing was widely anticipated: video footage shows him thumping Pascal Papé in the chest in the opening moments of Sunday’s contest, leaving the French lock in need of prolonged treatment. If there was any kind of silver lining for the Irish camp, it came with the news that their next opponents might lose the goal-kicking centre Marcelo Bosch to suspension. The Pumas midfielder must also answer a disciplinary charge, this one relating to dangerous tackling during the comprehensive victory over Namibia at the weekend.
With Wales, another of this weekend’s quarter-finalists, suffering even more orthopaedic strife than Ireland, leading figures from World Rugby, the sport’s international governing body, were pressed hard on the extent of the casualty list at this tournament. But when Brett Gosper, the organisation’s chief executive, was asked whether the levels of physicality were fast becoming unsustainable, he argued against leaping to conclusions. World Rugby has insisted the injury levels seen at England 2015 so far are not “extraordinary in any way” and are in line with previous World Cups.
The total number of withdrawals from the competition so far is 21, whereas in 2011 the figure for the entire event was 19. But 37 players went home early eight years ago.
World Rugby’s chief executive, Brett Gosper, said: “England 2015 is not tracking any differently to any other tournament in the past.
“Visually, it is looking more serious because of the size of two of the games where injuries have been happening [England v Wales and Ireland v France], but our monitoring is not showing the number to be extraordinary in any particular way.”
It has to be evidence based rather than emotion based
“Our early indications are that England 2015 is not tracking any differently to other tournaments in the past,” he said. “Let’s wait until the tournament is over before conducting a full analysis. We want to make sure it’s evidence based rather than emotion based, because player welfare is our No 1 priority.”
Gosper went on to describe the quality of the pool stage as “breathtaking”, reporting that more than £200m had been generated in ticket sales and that, along with stadium audiences totalling 1.8 million, more than 750,000 supporters had attended official “fanzones” in towns and cities up and down the country. He also said that he was not “getting any sense of a stutter in interest” as a result of England’s early departure from their own tournament.