Injuries prevent Leinster naming a team

One of the conundrums of sport which has managers-cum-coaches often tearing their hair out is how one squad can be afflicted with an injury list the length of their arm while their rivals' is scarcely the length of a toothpick. Thus, whereas Ulster could conceivably name an unchanged team for the fourth game running for Friday's Guinness Interprovincial at home to Leinster, the latter were obliged to cancel training yesterday, defer naming their team until tomorrow and would probably seek a cancellation if they'd half a mind to.

Asked why he had called off training yesterday, Matt Williams retorted: "because we've only got 15 players. We can't do scrums, can't do line-outs and can't do any back-line work." Well, they could practice their place-kicking.

The latest to join the casualty list are Denis Hickie, Declan O'Brien, Victor Costello, Shane Horgan and Trevor Brennan, all of whom are doubtful, while Emmet Byrne is again likely to be ruled out with a bruised shoulder.

"I know it must sound like whingeing but it's not," said Williams. "You can't control it, so you've just got to manage it. But I've never seen anything like it. And not one of them is a muscle strain - every one is a contact injury."

The Leinster coach cited the plight of Declan O'Brien, sidelined for weeks with a medial ligament injury: "He worked his socks off to get back, played a game for DLSP and came on with 10 minutes to go last Friday. With his first tackle he did the other knee, a grade one medial injury."

Similarly, having been troubled by one knee strain, now Horgan's other knee is acting up. Gordon D'Arcy's back continues to trouble him, Brennan sustained a neck injury playing for St Mary's on Saturday while Costello's sore back dates back to a whack in the Munster game, and will probably leave his participation in doubt until shortly before kick-off.

None of these players could train since the Donnybrook match and Williams will probably take a 24-man party to Ulster tomorrow.

"I'd hope to be in a situation to name a similar pack but I haven't got a clue what my back-line is going to be," said Williams, who admitted they had yet to make their minds up on the vexed outhalf issue and gave little away on that count save for saying it could partially depend on the composition of those beyond number 10.

Mark McHugh may seem favourite for a recall to the position given the manner he helped steady the ship in the final halfhour against Ulster, and bearing in mind Simon Broughton's poor tactical kicking and poor tackling. That said, however, McHugh has been one of several good weapons off the bench while Leinster's best two moves against Ulster came from inventive running and handling on the gain line by Broughton.

The one blot on Ulster's landscape has been the long-term injury to Allen Clarke. The experienced, streetwise and hardworking former Irish hooker is a very influential player within Ulster's ranks and has been sorely missed from their tight five. While their scrum has held up well., their line-out has buckled badly, although in mitigation barely a couple of the numerous lost balls last Friday could be levelled purely at Richie Weir, as Harry Williams admitted after examining the video.

However, Ulster's plans to sign up the ACT Brumbies hooker Tom Murphy (who understudies Jeremy Paul) at the end of the month for the opening phase of four pool games in the European Cup has been sabotaged by the tournament organisers, ERC Ltd.

This is on the grounds that a player must be available for at least all the pool games, according to Heineken Cup rules, but the 28-year-old Murphy, once of Harlequins and a one-time Cambridge University captain, is contracted to return to the Brumbies in January, before Ulster's final two pool games.

Asked what he would do now with regard to plugging the hooking void Harry Williams said: "pray". But he stressed his belief in Weir, maintaining that the scrum has improved considerably on last year and that the line-out flaws went beyond his replacement hooker.

"Our warm-up went well and apart from the actual losses we've been playing well. We haven't been outplayed but we haven't always made the right decisions at times and we've turned over too much ball. I've told the players I don't know whether to cry or scream in anger." Or tear his hair out.