The Leinster squad stepped up their preparations for Saturday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leicester Tigers, with a training session at UCD earlier today.
Second seeds Leinster host the English high-flyers this weekend in the province’s eighth appearance in the quarter-finals, having topped Pool 2 in January.
The Leinster management report no new fresh injuries from last Saturday’s 24-23 Magners League defeat to Munster at Thomond Park.
Speaking after the interprovincial derby, Leinster head coach Joe Schmidt said: “With three games left (in the league), we can still control our own fate and at least make sure we get into the top four on the back of a pretty tough start to the year.
“But next Saturday is in a different competition, it was nice to have had a tough game and to be put under pressure and to learn about yourself under pressure.
“We couldn’t get into the second half, we spoke at half-time and said a number of things would go against us in the second half and we had to cope with that.
“We showed some real resilience to stay in as long as we did. We weren’t cohesive at times – that’s going to happen the first time or two the internationals come back.
“(The positive is) it’s great for us to get a game under our belts and there is no better place for us to come for a game than to Limerick.”
Experienced flanker Shane Jennings will continue his rehabilitation of a knee injury. At this stage he has not been ruled out of contention for Saturday’s encounter with Leicester Tigers, his former club.
Shane Horgan, who marked his 200th Leinster cap with a try, successfully came through his landmark appearance and lies in fourth place in the the Heineken Cup’s list of top try scorers (27 tries), two behind team-mate Brian O’Driscoll (29 tries).
Out-half Jonathan Sexton is the current top points scorer in this season’s Heineken Cup with 76 points. He requires just five more points to pass through the 500-point mark for the province.
Saturday’s last-eight tie will be the eleventh meeting between Leinster and Leicester in the competition’s history, with both sides claiming five previous wins.
The Leinster team and replacements to face the current Aviva Premiership leaders will be named on Friday afternoon.
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