Leinster and Ireland as Sean O'Brien's shoulder injury is worse than first feared.

The flanker underwent surgery to repair his dislocated shoulder at the end of last week, but Leinster head coach Matt O'Connor has confirmed that the injury required open surgery, which is likely to add another month to his recovery time.

The latest set-back means that O'Brien is now certain to miss all of Ireland's Six Nations campaign and could also make him a doubt for the rest of the season.

O'Brien has been linked with a move to France and the Irish Independent has reported that he could travel for talks by the end of this week