Rhys Ruddock ruled out of Leinster’s clash with the Bulls with hamstring injury

Rhys Ruddock has been ruled out of Leinster’s last regular season game of their URC campaign against the Bulls next Saturday at Loftus Versfeld (4pm local time/3pm Irish). The flanker would most likely have led the side again in Pretoria, but he injured his hamstring in the second half when captain in the comeback win against the Lions and will be unavailable for selection this week.

Vakhtang Abdaladze was withdrawn from the game against Lions with a neck injury after marking his first start with a sharply taken try and will be further assessed this week before a final decision is made on selection.

Tommy O’Brien came through last Saturday’s game with no issues after his return from a long-term knee injury, while there are no further updates on Ryan Baird (shoulder), James Lowe (calf), Josh van der Flier (ankle), Johnny Sexton (groin), Jamie Osborne (knee), Rónan Kelleher (shoulder), Joe McCarthy (ankle), Cormac Foley (hamstring), Martin Moloney (knee) and Charlie Ngatai (hamstring).

Ulster’s Tom O’Toole sustained a calf injury in last Friday’s victory against Dragons at the Kingspan Stadium and will have an MRI scan today to further assess the extent of this injury before their final home game against Edinburgh when a bonus point will secure a second placed seeding in the knock-out stages.

The Counter Ruck: the rugby newsletter from The Irish Times

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