Shooting from lip days over for Sean O’Brien

Sean O’Brien has vowed to keep the lip buttoned and his emotions in check as he returns tonight to a stadium that, for all its links with Irish success stories, has been the source of considerable personal frustrations in recent times.

The Leinster flanker’s last appearance at what was still known as the Millennium Stadium at the time was for Ireland’s 2015 World Cup game against the French when a swinging punch to the midriff of Pascal Pape was punished with a ban that saw him miss the quarter-final loss to Argentina.

Seven months earlier and the Carlow man was part of an Irish team that fell foul of referee Wayne Barnes’ strict interpretations on players rolling away from the tackle and he would vent his feelings about the Englishman in May of that year after Leinster fell just short of Toulon in a Champions Cup semi-final.