Heaslip And Toner Both Available For Leinster
After a bruising encounter away to Glasgow Warriors, both Sean O’Brien and Ian Madigan sat out training but are expected to be fine for the first home game of the season against the Scarlets this Saturday (kick-off 2.40pm).
There was also encouraging news late this evening that Noel Reid’s ankle injury is not as bad as first feared and a further update will be provided later in the week at the Thursday media event.
Apart from long term injury absentees Richardt Strauss, Luke Fitzgerald and Dave Kearney – who continue to make good progress on their respective injuries and were pitchside this week – everyone else trained at UCD with captain Jamie Heaslip and Devin Toner both available for selection this weekend.
While there are plenty of positives to take from a late comeback that almost led to Leinster picking up four points in Glasgow, forwards coach Leo Cullen said ‘a pretty poor start to the game’ made the task even more difficult.
“We gave away two pretty cheap tries – one where the ball pops out of the scrum, another where we ripped the ball free in a tackle and Josh Strauss runs 40 metres unopposed, under the sticks,” he said.
“That’s 12 pretty cheap points. I thought the guys battled back pretty well from 19-0 down and the second half was a bit better.”
The defending champions will be aiming to bounce back against the Scarlets in their first run-out of the new season at the RDS. Cullen says that more internationals should return for this weekend’s game.
“We’ll have a few (international players) back, hopefully. That national management cycle comes to an end pretty much after this week. Generally most guys are back available for selection.”