Ireland 29-9 Argentina, Aviva Stadium, November 28
O'Driscoll facing Heineken heartache
ESPNscrum Staff
November 29, 2010
Ireland's Brian O'Driscoll stretches the Argentina defence, Ireland v Argentina, Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland, November 28, 2010
Brian O'Driscoll suffered a suspected fractured jaw against Argentina © PA Photos
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Players/Officials: Declan Kidney | Brian O'Driscoll
Tournaments/Tours: Argentina tour | Heineken Cup

Brian O'Driscoll could miss Leinster's crunch Heineken Cup double-header against Clermont Auvergne after suffering a suspected fractured jaw in Ireland's 29-9 victory over Argentina on Sunday.

The 31-year-old midfielder was replaced by Keith Earls midway through the second-half of the Dublin showdown, with Ireland coach Declan Kidney admitting that he could be facing surgery on the problem.

Leinster take on the French champions in crucial back-to-back games on December 12 and 18 and currently lead their rivals by four points at the top of Pool 2.

"Brian is the one guy there is concern over," Kidney told The Irish Independent. "He's going for an X-ray and could have a crack in the jaw, the treatment for which we're not sure yet. If it's just a crack, he might be able to avoid surgery and having a plate inserted; we'll just have to wait and see what the story is there.

"He felt okay; it just felt prudent to get him off when we did. Brian felt comfortable himself, he asked for a few minutes but the medics said he had to come off."

Ireland's dismal win over the Pumas brought the curtain down on a disappointing November but O'Driscoll's Leinster team-mate Jamie Heaslip insisted that the result was all-important.

"I'm delighted we beat Argentina. I always say I play to win and that's what happened," he said. "Granted, we probably wanted a little bit more ball in the second-half and it did get a little bit loose at times.

"But when we had the opportunity we tightened it down when it got loose. Probably one or two decisions we made as a team regarding how to manage the game was off, but we'll learn from that. As a whole the lads were very happy with the win."

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