BREAKING: Paul O’Connell’s World Cup future has been decided

Paul O'Connell's World Cup bid is sadly over, with surgery for a hamstring injury ruling him out of any future games.

Mike McCarthy will replace the Irish captain, making him the second Leinster player in two days to be called up to the World Cup squad.

O'Connell was taken off just before half time during Sunday's clash against France, and was due for a scan yesterday. The IRFU this morning confirmed that he would not be returning to the squad.

Speaking immediately after the match, Ireland's head coach Joe Schmidt admitted things didn't "look great" for Paul, who was administered oxygen before being stretchered off the pitch while in visible pain.

Also out of the World Cup is Peter O'Mahony, who suffered knee ligament damage during Sunday's game. He'll be replaced by Leinster backrow Rhys Ruddock.

Even with the loss of numerous players during Sunday's game, Ireland are now top of their pool after a 24-9 victory over France.

However it's a triple whammy of bad news this morning as Sean O'Brien is set to miss out on at least one World Cup game for disciplinary reasons.

Despite later being named as man of the match, O'Brien was cited for striking French player Pascal Pape in the early stages of Sunday's game.

The minimum suspension for striking is a generally two-week ban, but it's hoped this will be lowered due to O'Brien's good disciplinary record.

However at the very least he will be absent for this Sunday's clash with Argentina.