RUGBY: Brian O'Driscoll has been named on a 28-man extended Leinster squad for the first time this season as the province faces into Celtic League matches against Ulster at Ravenhill on St Stephen's Day and Munster in Dublin on New Year's Eve. Johnny Watterson reports.
The Ireland and Lions captain has been training with the Leinster squad for several weeks, although the final decision as to whether he is confident enough to play on Monday or should wait another five days for the game against Munster in Ballsbridge will be largely left to the player himself.
O'Driscoll's path to recovery has been closely followed since the infamous spear tackle during the Lions' first test against New Zealand in June, one that dislocated his shoulder and wiped out the tour and the first half of this domestic season.
The centre attended a testing session on Monday designed for Leinster players coming back from injury and reported little reaction, while rumoured problems over back spasms hindering his comeback were dismissed by coach Michael Cheika yesterday at the team's RDS training ground.
"We did some testing on Monday," said Cheika. "Every player coming back from injury did some fitness testing and he (O'Driscoll) went through the majority of those and he will be on the field tomorrow. So if he has back spasms that have prevented him from training, I don't know about them and it means someone is hiding it from me. He'll definitely be on the deck tomorrow.
"It is definitely good to have him back in the group. He has been back playing with us for about a month now so he's feeling a lot better about it.
"Whether he'll play or not this weekend we still haven't decided. It's really up to him and how confident he feels. How much he'll participate in the game (against Ulster) is up to him."
Six of Cheika's players are in Lanzarote for warm-weather training with the Ireland squad, although O'Driscoll did not travel. It will be a matter of those players then slotting in to the team format on their return later this week.
"I think we are going to get a pretty good idea if he (O'Driscoll) is going to be in the 22 after training tomorrow," added Cheika. "It's not like we are trying to keep anything a secret. It's just a matter of him feeling more confident.
"A bit more direct contact tomorrow and if he feels okay with that we'll pretty much know if he is going to be in the 22 or not. Obviously if he's fit we want him to play.
"He looks good. But we are definitely not shortsighted in relation to our plan with all of the players. If there is any doubt, or any way Brian feels he's not right, he won't play. We've got to look long-term at the whole season going forward for ourselves and for Ireland."
Cheika has had mixed success in the first round of interprovincial meetings earlier in the season but Ulster too have been hampered by the absence of players at the Lanzarote training camp.
Coach Mark McCall must also wait for Friday's decision of the Heineken European Cup disciplinary committee, who meet in Glasgow to decide the fate of secondrows Justin Harrison and Matt McCullough following last week's ill-tempered match against Saracens.
"The majority of our back line is out there but we just keep preparing on in the squad format," commented Cheika. "The squad here understands that it is up to them to prepare for the match. When those players come back, they just have to fit into that group in that one day of training that we get together. Ulster too."
Once again Cheika declined to look for excuses for losing away to Bourgoin last week in the European Cup - the start of the match rather than the dramatic conclusion, where Leinster gave too much away, being his main focus.
The fast-turnover game and consistent ball-to-hand play Leinster now employ has been often fruitful in terms of scoring but is occasionally a liability.
"You can always look for excuses," says Cheika. "You can always say we shouldn't have done that play and we should have been more streetwise. But we can say that about nearly every game. We can say it about the game against Bath as well.
"If we are going to play this attacking style then our defence has got to be A-one. We can't afford to let systems break down.
"I think its about looking at the mistakes at the start of the game which put us under more pressure than we needed to be in at the end of the game. There were some defensive-system errors and some decisional errors there at the start of the game."
Munster too have delayed naming their squad, though their Ireland secondrow Paul O'Connell continues to make a steady recovery from a broken bone in his hand.
O'Connell, like O'Driscoll, may be named in an extended squad today and could play in Munster's game against Connacht next Tuesday. If not then the meeting with Leinster in the RDS is a likely comeback match.
LEINSTER SQUAD (v Ulster, Celtic League)
Forwards (15): Ronan McCormack, Reggie Corrigan, David Blaney, Brian Blaney, Will Green, Emmett Byrne, Adam Byrnes, Bryce Williams, Ben Gissing, Malcolm O'Kelly, Cameron Jowitt, Niall Ronan, Keith Gleeson, Eric Miller, Jamie Heaslip.
Backs (13): Brian O'Riordan, Guy Easterby, John Hepworth, Gary Brown, Rob Kearney, Shane Horgan, Felipe Contepomi, Gordon D'Arcy, Kieran Lewis, Brian O'Driscoll, Eoghan Hickey, Girvan Dempsey, Brendan Burke.
FIXTURES
St Stephen's Day
Celtic League: Ulster v Leinster, Ravenhill (5.0).
Tuesday
Celtic League: Munster v Connacht, Thomond Park (5.35).
Thursday
AIB Cup first round: Greystones v St Mary's College, Dr Hickey Park (2.0).
Saturday
Celtic League: Leinster v Munster, RDS (1.0); Connacht v Ulster, Sportsground (2.0).
