Rugby:Leinster will look to continue their recent run of good form in the Magners League after reporting a clean bill of health ahead of Sunday's trip to Swansea to take on the Ospreys.
Of greater concern to coach Joe Schmidt in the longer term is the injury of his Irish internationals, Luke Fitzgerald and Rob Kearney. Both picked up knee injuries during Ireland’s defeat to the All Blacks at the weekend and are expected to be out for anything up to six weeks.
“I’m not sure of how bad the injuries are with Ireland,” explained Leinster coach Joe Schmidt, who wouldn’t have had the Irish pair at his disposal even if they were fit. “We believe that Luke will be out for four to six weeks, so we’re hopeful that he’ll be available to us for at least the Clermont return fixture (in the Heineken Cup on December 18th).
“I spoke to Rob today and we won’t know about him until Tuesday when they have a look around his knee.”
Following yesterday’s training session at UCD the coach confirmed no further other injury concerns ahead of this weekend’s trip to Wales.
Secondrow duo Trevor Hogan and Ed O’Donoghue both came through last Friday’s bonus point victory (27-6) over the Dragons and are in contention for selection when Schmidt finalises his team on Friday.
Shane Horgan scored his 63rd and 64th career tries in a man of the match display at the RDS, which also marked the Boyne man’s 190th Leinster appearance.
Isaac Boss touched down for his second try in 10 appearances to date, while Shaun Berne continued his comeback from injury with a 75 minute shift in which he too scored a try.
“We’re expecting an even tougher test this weekend,” added Schmidt. “They got a win against Connacht in the last minute which was obviously a pretty good performance considering Connacht weren’t too far from (being) full strength,” said Schmidt.
“We found them (Connacht) a very tough nut to crack when we were in Galway a few weeks ago so, for Ospreys to have done that is a very good effort. They’ve got some real talent in their young guys…so they might add something that we don’t know so much about.
Leinster’s run of four league wins began with victory over Munster at the Aviva Stadium at the start of October which has moved the province up to fifth, but are still nine points adrift of leaders Munster.
“We had a few bumps and bruises (out of the Dragons victory), but that is pretty much it and we’re hopeful that those guys will be available at the end of the week. We have a nine-day turnaround so we’ve got enough time to get anyone with bumps and bruises back on their feet.
“The last few wins are not just about (being good for) confidence. It’s about points on the table. Ulster went away and got a really good win against Cardiff and that allowed them to stay in front of us.
“Ospreys got their win in Connacht. So if you’re not winning, then you’re going to be very quickly behind the eight-ball and chasing. We want to try and get some kind of established break and make it into the top four.