O’Connell and Best to miss tour Down Under

IRELAND were dealt a severe blow for the forthcoming tour of New Zealand and Australia yesterday when both Paul O’Connell and Rory Best were ruled out through injury.

Lions and Munster skipper O’Connell has been consigned to a summer of rehabilitation on a groin injury that has sidelined him since Ireland’s Triple Crown defeat by Scotland.

Ulster hooker Best, who made it back from a career-threatening neck injury for the Six Nations, has been struggling with an ankle injury and yesterday accepted the projected recovery time would not allow him to join the tour, which starts this day week.