Johnny Sexton believes he could be fit for Ireland's quarter-final against Argentina in Cardiff on Sunday.

The flyhalf left the field during the first half of Ireland's match against France at the Millennium Stadium because of an adductor injury, with the distraught look on his face suggesting it was serious. But the flyhalf was feeling more positive after the game.

'I hope I'll be fine but I'm going to get a scan to check,' he said. 'It was a very hard match. We had a lot of luck for the first half hour but after that I was in the changing rooms, so I didn't see the rest.

'Now we have seven days until the next game, and we know it will be more difficult for France because they've only got six days. It's an extra day for us which is very important after a match like that with a lot of injuries. It was a very hard game.'

However, Ireland are set to lose captain Paul O'Connell, who left the field on a stretcher on the stroke of half-time.

'The update I can give is that it doesn't look great with Paul,' said Ireland coach Joe Schmidt. 'It looks like an upper hamstring. But we're probably going to have to wait until tomorrow [Monday] to get that scanned.'

Peter O'Mahony, who suffered a knee ligament injury against France, has been ruled out for the rest of the tournament, with a replacement still to be named.

Photo: Franck Fife/AFP Photo