Leinster And Connacht Gear Up For RDS Date
Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster has confirmed that both Jonathan Sexton and Sean O’Brien came through the Montpellier match with no issues and were both fit.
Speaking as the province prepare to host Connacht in the GUINNESS PRO12 next Saturday, Stuart Lancaster also said that Mick Kearney had passed his head injury assessment during the second half of last Sunday’s game but did not return to the pitch, with Ian Nagle staying on in his place.
Having been named to start at the weekend, Mike McCarthy has recovered from the illness that prevented him from travelling and kept him out of the Champions Cup defeat to Montpellier, while Richardt Strauss came through the Leinster ‘A’ game with no issues in what was his first appearance of the season after knee surgery.
Both Tadhg Furlong (hamstring) and Rhys Ruddock (calf) will be assessed further as the week progresses, however Dave Kearney and Cathal Marsh have been ruled out of the interprovincial clash with Connacht.
Kearney has been slower to recover from the ankle injury suffered in the Cardiff Blues game earlier this month. Marsh suffered a torn tendon in his hand during the Leinster ‘A’ side’s loss to Nottingham and will require an operation this week.
Tickets for Leinster v Connacht are on sale here and supporters have been advised to arrive earlier than normal or to use public transport as there are a number of other events on in the RDS also this weekend.
Meanwhile, an injury update from the Connacht camp has revealed that Dominic Robertson-McCoy (arm), Eoin Griffin (concussion) and Tiernan O’Halloran (knee) will all return to full team training this week.
Ronan Loughney suffered a hamstring injury in training last week which ruled him out of the Champions Cup encounter with Zebre. An update on his return-to-play will be provided when known.
New signing Marnitz Boshoff, who arrived in Ireland last Friday, came through his medical examination today and was passed fit to commence full team training.