Paul O’Connell could miss the entire rugby season due to injury. The Irish lock, who has signed up with French Top 14 side Toulon, will be out of rugby for between four and eight months.

O’Connell tore the tendon from the bone of his hamstring playing against France in the World Cup and although medical staff are satisfied with the way the surgery went, the prognosis is that at best he will be back after four months and at worst eight months, which would take him up to May and June.

“It’s a frustrating time,” said O’Connell. “I spoke to the physio in Toulon last week and he said it’s an injury where you just have to do your time with it.

“Shoulder injuries or even cruciate now, you come out of it and there’s a lot you can do straight away. With this one you really have to put down a really tough six weeks where you have to be very careful, particularly in the first two weeks.

“If you slip and you stretched the hamstring, you could be in trouble. You can get it scanned, but there’s so much damage, there’s so much bleeding in there that it’s hard to tell if it’s right or wrong. It’s a really difficult, awkward injury and Emily (wife) has been waiting on me hand and foot since I got home, which has been the good thing out of it I suppose.”

O’Connell, who remains on crutches and a in leg brace, has already begun packing to move from his home to the South of France.