Ahead of Saturday’s European Champions Cup match against Bath at the Recreation Ground, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen confirmed that several injured players could return for the crucial round 2 clash.
Rob Kearney (hamstring), Luke Fitzgerald (shoulder), Ben Te’o (glute) and Isa Nacewa (knee) all missed the 33-6 home defeat to Wasps last Sunday, with Nacewa withdrawn at the last minute as he had not sufficiently recovered from a jarred knee picked up in training last week.
Speaking to the media in Leinster HQ today, Leo Cullen stated that all four players are close to returning for this weekend’s game in England.
“Rob, Luke and Ben, the three of them are getting very close, Isa as well,” said the province’s head coach. “A few of them trained today, which is encouraging, so they’re getting close.
“We’ll get the report on how some of them have trained today and how they’ve come through. The four of those guys, they’ve trained pretty well, so the majority of them are in consideration.”
However, Cullen said it was unlikely that the forward trio of Mike McCarthy, Richardt Strauss and Sean O’Brien would be available for selection.
“The guys with the head knocks, it’s looking pretty tight for those guys. It would be unlikely the three of them will feature. They’re three very different sort of cases: Richardt, Mike McCarthy, Sean O’Brien. Even though the three of them are okay, I think we’re always erring on the side of caution with those.”
Cullen also announced that young Ireland-capped back rower Jack Conan will miss the Bath tie and the next six to ten weeks after breaking a bone in his foot at training.
“There’s been one injury we picked up during training during the week. Jack Conan broke a bone in his foot at training on Tuesday, so he’ll be out of the game. He’s going to get a procedure done to repair that, so (he’ll be out for) anything from six to ten weeks probably.”
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