Ireland and Leinster will be without O'Brien for an extended period of time.

Ireland and Leinster will be without O'Brien for an extended period of time.

LEINSTER HAVE CONFIRMED that Sean O’Brien faces five to six months on the sidelines as he gets set for shoulder surgery tomorrow.

The Ireland back row will undergo a second shoulder reconstruction on the same injury that saw him miss much of the latter half of last season.

O’Brien initially injured his left shoulder in December of 2013, having an operation early the next month to reinforce the dislocated joint. However, with the injury not having healed to the satisfaction of the Leinster medical team due to an infection post-surgery, he is now forced to have a second procedure.

The back row did make a return for Leinster at the tail end of last season, and featured against the Glasgow Warriors in the opening game of the current campaign. However, the shoulder issue and an ankle problem have seen him sidelined since.

Head coach Matt O’Connor broke the news at Leinster HQ in UCD this afternoon:

Sean is in the UK at the moment. He’ll have, if all things go according to plan, shoulder reconstruction tomorrow. A little bit of a complication with the previous surgery due to the infection, so they’re going to have to go in and redo that reconstruction of his shoulder, which is about a five to six month time frame.”

“It’s a nightmare. He’s incredibly frustrated. I mean the positive thing is that the ankle procedure he had a couple of weeks ago was a lot more minor than we thought. It’ll give him time to recover from that. The shoulder will be as good as new.”

O’Brien last played for Ireland in the November Test defeat to New Zealand at the Aviva Stadium, having also started against Australia the previous weekend and appeared off the bench versus Samoa at the start of the same series.