Conway And Fitzgerald Making Good Progress
Following their tight victory over the Scarlets, there are no fresh injury concerns for the Leinster management ahead of Saturday’s RaboDirect PRO12 trip to Firhill Stadium to face Glasgow Warriors.
In a boost for the province, backs Andrew Conway and Luke Fitzgerald have stepped up their rehabilitation this week as they progress with their scheduled conditioning programme.
It is hoped that they will both return to full training, with a decision on their availability set to be confirmed at Friday’s team announcement.
Dominic Ryan successfully came through his first appearance since October, against the Scarlets. The young back rower was one of eight recent Leinster Academy graduates on the field of play by the time Fergus McFadden slotted home the match-winning penalty.
With a number of players unavailable due to international commitments this week with Ireland, Leinster look set to call upon a number of Academy players once more such as Colm O’Shea, who made his senior bow in the recent bonus point victory over Benetton Treviso.
Clontarf centre O’Shea is one of 29 other Academy graduates across the Leinster panel this season, not including the likes of Leo Cullen, Shane Jennings and Brian O’Driscoll, for example, whose earlier careers were honed in the IRFU National Academy in the late 1990s.
McFadden scored all 16 points for the province against the Scarlets at the RDS, in a game which also marked Heinke van der Merwe’s 50th appearance for the province.
The Fright night fixture also marked Leinster’s sixth annual ‘Ladies Night’ where over €;5,000 was raised for Action Breast Cancer. Leinster Rugby gave their sincere thanks to the OLSC and all of their supporters for raising funds on the night.