Connacht’s talismanic captain John Muldoon will be out of action for four months after his tour of New Zealand with Ireland came to a heartbreaking end.
The Connacht captain should have been celebrating his third Irish cap and his first against a top rugby nation when he lined for Ireland against the All Blacks last weekend, but instead he was left nursing a broken forearm sustained in the opening half.
While the rest of the Irish tour party headed to Rotorua where they were treated to a traditional Maori welcome ahead of Saturday’s match with the NZ Maori, Muldoon was heading to Auckland to see the surgeon who also looks after All Black injuries.
Muldoon told the Galway Advertiser he was “gutted” and that he will be sidelined for four months, missing the start of Connacht’s season.
The 28-years-old flanker, who was capped on Ireland’s tour to North America last year, had been named in Declan Kidney’s side alongside Connacht hooker Sean Cronin for the match in New Plymouth. But he only played in the opening 30 minutes before breaking his arm.
On Monday he had an operation in Auckland where, according to Muldoon a “titinium rod was pushed into the bone from wrist to elbow”. He then travelled down to Rotorua to meet up with the Irish tour party before he flies home on Saturday.
Connacht fullback Gavin Duffy, who also joined the tour party, is named to play in the centre on Saturday in Rotorua.
