Keenan Ruled Out Until New Year
Hugo Keenan is pictured training with the Leinster Men's squad at UCD towards the end of last season ©INPHO/Ben Brady
Leinster Men’s head coach Leo Cullen says that Hugo Keenan ‘probably won’t feature until the New Year’, following his surgery on a pre-existing hip injury in the aftermath of the British & Irish Lions tour.
Keenan was the Lions’ second Test try-scoring hero as they clinched a series victory over Australia in Melbourne, but will be sidelined for the start of the new season, including Ireland’s four November matches.
Another of Leinster’s Lions representatives, Joe McCarthy, has also had an operation on the foot injury that kept him out of the second and third Tests against the Wallabies this summer. He has been ruled out of Leinster’s first block of BKT United Rugby Championship games.
Meanwhile, Leinster and Ireland captain Caelan Doris, who missed the Lions tour due to a shoulder injury, is making good progress and is targeting a return ‘in and around November’.
Speaking after the province’s open training session today at Greystones RFC, Cullen said: “Hugo had surgery post Lions tour, and that’s with a hip issue that had been bothering him prior to that.
“He’s making steady progress but probably won’t feature until the New Year. Exacty what point, I’m not sure yet.
“Joe has an issue with his foot. He had an issue obviously with the Lions, but he’s made it worse anyway. So he’s had a bit of a setback.
“Whether he’s out until November, but he is not going to feature for us anyway in that first block (of URC fixtures). It’s early days, and I don’t know is the honest answer.
“Two players, very experienced in recent times for us and we’ll help them and get them right. From what you would have seen here today, a lot of the Lions crew who were there in Australia have integrated pretty seamlessly into the group.
“A lot of them won’t travel to South Africa (for Leinster’s opening URC clashes with the DHL Stormers and the Vodacom Bulls), but we’l get them up and running pre-November.”
Asked about a likely return date for Doris, who has not played since May’s Investec Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton Saints, he replied: “Caelan will be in and around November.
“He’s making good progress from the shoulder surgery towards the tail end of last season. He’s worked hard, but again, around November.”
Leinster had their only pre-season outing against Cardiff at Tallaght Stadium last Saturday, fielding a youthful squad that scored tries through centres Hugh Cooney and Charlie Tector, but could not avoid an eventual 31-10 defeat.
It was certainly a valuable workout for Cullen’s men, with Jordan Larmour and Robbie Henshaw returning from injury, and a number of players, including short-term signing Jerry Cahir and Ireland Sevens international Joshua Kenny, gaining senior experience.
Loosehead prop Cahir, Lansdowne’s Player of the Year last season, has earned a three-month contract with Leinster, while Kenny and Old Belvedere back rower Josh Ericson have been training with the province in pre-season.
Cahir and former Skerries player Ericson were both involved with Leinster ‘A’ during the 2024/25 campaign, helping them to win the IRFU 150 ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship title.
Garry Ringrose and James Ryan were amongst the Lions contingent that trained with Leinster in Greystones, and those who were on tour Down Under and who are back training have the Croke Park showdown with Munster on October 18 as a target for their return to action.
Leinster’s 10 players that were involved in Ireland’s wins over Portugal and Georgia in July are available for the defending URC champions’ early-season tour to South Africa, as is the case with Jamie Osborne and Thomas Clarkson, who were both late call-ups to the Lions.
Ringrose’s self-declared concussion symptoms ruled him out of contention for the Lions’ second and third Tests against the Wallabies. Second row Ryan sustained a head injury during the Sydney loss to the Wallabies.
“Garry and James would have gone through the process and seen the Independent Concussion Consultants (ICC),” explained Cullen. “We’ll try to take as good care as possible.
“What Garry did is pretty remarkable, obviously, during the summer. The James one, he has had a history (with concussion). He hasn’t had an incident like that in over two years, I think. But it’s technique. Technique is what we will continue to push.
“Obviously, when players do get bangs, they’re going to be looked after as well. So, there’s a stronger process.
“You can see the games, the games are physical. A lot of guys would be playing on in the past, whereas, obviously, everyone’s seen that they’re not playing on now.”