Fitzgerald ‘Likely To Be Available’ For Leinster
The Leinster squad trained in UCD on Monday afternoon ahead of the province’s opening home game of the RaboDirect PRO12 campaign against the Newport Gwent Dragons.
Friday’s match at the RDS will see Joe Schmidt’s men aiming to bounce back from a disappointing defeat to the Ospreys in their league opener.
Luke Fitzgerald, playing at inside centre, had to go off with a knee injury during the second half in Swansea. However, there has been positive news regarding his scan.
Although the Ireland and Lions back sat out training with the province on Monday, he is likely to be available for the Dragons clash.
Prop Jamie Hagan trained in a limited capacity on Monday following bruising to his eye. The Leinster management are confident that he will be fully fit to train on Wednesday and be in contention for selection.
Aside from the usual bumps and bruises, there were no other fresh injury concerns from last weekend in a game which saw summer signings Leo Auva’a, Mat Berquist and Damian Browne, as well as John Cooney and Jack O’Connell, all make their competitive debuts.
Waikato tighthead prop Nathan White will arrive in Ireland this week after leading his side to the final of the ITM Cup, which they lost 12-3 in Hamilton at the weekend. He is expected to be available for Friday’s game.
Winger Andrew Conway has not been ruled out of contention yet. The ankle injury which he sustained in pre-season will be assessed with a decision on his availability also expected to be made later in the week.
Meanwhile, following record Season Ticket sales of over 13,200 during the summer, over 14,300 tickets have now been sold for the Leinster v Dragons fixture.
Match tickets are still available from www.leinsterrugby.ie, Spar (Donnybrook), the Leinster Rugby Store and Ticketmaster outlets nationwide.