O’Connell citing shock as Munster prepare for Cup
If found guilty he will miss Munster’s Heineken Cup quarter-final in Biarritz on April 3.
The Six Nations committee received a complaint against O’Connell from the independent citing commissioner. A hearing, chaired by Scotland’s Lorne Crerar, will be heard tomorrow at Heathrow airport.
O’Connell and Sidoli were involved in a touchline fracas in the 54th minute. Both were reprimanded by referee Chris White, but both escaped punishment as officials did not get a clear view of the incident.
However, after viewing the video of the incident independent Citing Commissioner Paul Mauriac of France, believes the Irish lock has a case to answer - though the charges are unspecified.
“We just had a bit of a row, we both came out of a play and fell on top of each other, he wasn’t pulling away, I wasn’t pulling away. That was it really, it wasn’t anything serious,” O’Connell said in the aftermath.
Munster coach Alan Gaffney said: “We will just have to wait and see what happens, it’s out of our control but it would be a huge blow if we were to lose Paul for the Heineken Cup.”
Irish boss Eddie O’Sullivan said: “We have been notified of the citing and the hearing. I have spoken with Paul and I accept the interpretation that it was more of a frustrating and harmless scrap with no intent to hurt or injure on his part. Knowing Paul and his reputation, I accept that explanation for something that we all know would be out of character.”
Meanwhile, there was some good news for Gaffney, as new signing Brian Lima arrived in Ireland last night, having flown from Hong Kong, where he helped his native Samoa to a 29-7 victory over Portugal in the Plate final of the World Rugby Sevens.
Lima is to meet with his team-mates today before returning to Dublin for medical examinations.
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