Ireland legend Paul O'Connell ruled out for up to eight months

Ireland great Paul O’Connell could be out of action for up to eight months with the hamstring injury that ended his World Cup prematurely.

O'Connell was due to join up with his new club, European champions Toulon, but may miss the whole of the Top 14 season after undergoing surgery.

"I have literally just been on the flat of my back for the past two weeks," he told the Irish Independent.

"I'm pain free. Well I was pain free after about a week, and I'm pain free sitting down now for about four weeks. The Munster lads took me out for lunch twice and [his wife] Emily took me for a pizza once, but apart from that I haven't left the house.

"It's a frustrating time. It's very approximate. It could be between four and eight months, you just don't know. The surgeon was very happy with how the surgery went."

After years of top level European and international rugby, pain is not new to O'Connell but he admits this injury - suffered against France in the final group Pool game - was something else.

"It's the worst injury pain I've had, because your sciatic nerve runs really close to where the tendon is," he said.

"Apparently when you pull the tendon off the bone, you get a lot bleeding and a lot of bruising, a lot of swelling straight away, which hits the sciatic nerve.

"That's where the pain comes from. It's funny the amount of things that go through your head when it happens. I thought of when Eoin Reddan broke his ankle [against France in the 2013 Six Nations], and I remember him trying to get up.

"I was thinking of myself on the ground, that I'd only pulled my hamstring so I had better get up. But it was too sore and then when the physio and the doctor came on, I was thinking the same thing again: 'it's only my hamstring so I don't need to be stretchered off'."

O'Connell says he has been in contact with the medical team at Toulon, who had been hoping to add his vast experience to their already formidable pack.

"I spoke to the physio in Toulon last week and he said it's an injury that you just have to do your time with," he said.

"A lot of injuries, there is a lot you can do straight away. With this one, you really have to put down a tough six weeks where you just have to be very careful, particularly the first two weeks.

"Even if I got scanned now, it's hard to tell if it's right or wrong. It's just a really difficult, awkward injury."