Leinster trio unlikely to play against Zebre

Leinster look set to be without hooker Richardt Strauss, secondrow Tom Denton and centre Noel Reid for Friday's Guinness Pro12 match against Zebre at the RDS after suffering head injuries during Sunday's 16-14 defeat to the Dragons.

Reid and Denton clashed heads, attempting to make a last ditch tackle and were both replaced on 12 minutes. Strauss was initially withdrawn after two minutes to undergo a head injury assessment, returning to continue having been cleared but suffered a second blow to the head on 26 minutes and was replaced permanently.

The players will observe the return to play protocols, an irrespective of whether they are found to have concussion symptoms or not, the timescale between the two matches is too brief. Provided they satisfactorily pass each stage with no ill effects, the players must rest for a day, are allowed to do bike work on day two, do some running on day three and are then permitted to return to contact training.

Given the five day turnaround between Leinster's two matches it seems unrealistic that any will play. Gordon D'Arcy is expected to return against Zebre. He spent some time in Ireland camp last week but didn't play for his province at the weekend.

Stringer departure

Meanwhile Bath have confirmed that former Ireland scrumhalf

Peter Stringer

will leave them at the end of the season. The club’s head coach

Mike Ford

said: “Peter has been a fantastic servant for Bath,” before going on to add that with the signing of

Nico Matawalu

, the re-signing of

Chris Cook

and academy player Will Homer, there was no longer a place for Stringer.

The 37-year-old Stringer admitted he was disappointed after two years at the club but added: “I’m very much looking forward to the next chapter of my career elsewhere.”