In addition to welcoming back their captain Johnny Sexton, Leinster are likely to be further strengthened by the return of Rónan Kelleher for their Heineken Champions Cup Round 16 first leg against Connacht at the Sportsground next Friday (kick-off 8pm).
Andrew Porter (ankle) and Jordan Larmour (hip) are also likely to come into the mix at some point for this two-legged tie, with Kelleher best placed to do so this week after recovering from the shoulder injury he sustained in Ireland’s second-round game in the Six Nations away to France, according to Stuart Lancaster.
“They’re all on slightly different levels of progress,” said the Leinster senior coach on Monday. “They’re definitely going to be there or thereabouts for the two-legged affair but whether they’re going to be involved this week or not, it’s ‘TBC’. Andrew trained today, Rónan trained all last week as well, and Jordan is not quite there for training yet, so that’s the order.”
The province had no further updates on James Ryan (concussion) and Ryan Baird (back), as well as longer terms absentees Dave Kearney (hamstring) and Will Connors (knee).
“He’s training,” Lancaster said of Ryan. “He’s not doing contact, so we’re just making sure that we look after him. He is training away. There’s a fair amount of science and people he can speak to. We’ve got a good plan for him to make sure he comes back and comes back confident and ready. We want to make sure we do right by him so we’re not going to rush it.
“He’s non-contact and we’re making sure we look after him in training but equally he is fit and well enough to pass and run around with a rugby ball but we don’t want to expose him to contact or games yet as he returns.”
Leinster will be the warmest of favourites against Connacht, especially over two legs, bearing in mind their 45-8 win at the Sportsground just over a week ago when, admittedly, Tom Daly’s second minute red card had a major bearing on the outcome.
“The red card is a pretty important factor and everyone keeps talking about us going there and doing this, but they’re a completely different team looking at how they played against Treviso,” said Lancaster in reference to Connacht’s hard-earned win away to Benetton last Saturday.
I know we beat them at the RDS but I don't think anyone who played in that thought it was an easy game at all
“Obviously Bundee Aki is likely to come back in so I think it will be a different team that we’ll face for a whole variety of reasons on Friday night.
“It’s the first time Connacht have been to this part of the knock-out stages in Europe so it’s a huge occasion for the club and the people.
“The other thing that will play a part is how well they are coached. They have got a set of really creative attacking plays, they’re always coming up with something new and we have been caught out more than once before by their attack.
“They run at the line, they’ve got good ball players and strike runners, and their lineout defence is the best in the league. If they put all that together, it makes them a very difficult team to beat and that’s what we have found.
“I know we beat them at the RDS but I don’t think anyone who played in that thought it was an easy game at all. You can multiply that by 10 in a Champions Cup playoff in Galway.”
Lancaster was reared in Culgaith in Cumberland and having long since become acquainted with trips to the Sportsground admitted: “When I first came over it reminded me of where I grew up, to be honest, in terms of the sort of rural nature of the area and they’ve got the passion of the people, the uniqueness of the Sportsground and everything else and I’ve nothing but respect for them.
“My first week in Leinster was analysing what was then the Pro 12 final and Connacht had beaten Leinster to do that. So I’ve had some days there when we’ve won and days there when we’ve lost, and lost badly, and so they’ve got my ultimate respect.
“As a place, obviously I’ve been there for rugby, but I just think they’re hugely passionate about their area and rightly so,” said Lancaster, again noting how well coached Connacht are and noting how they twice pushed Premiership leaders Leicester in the pool stages.
Leinster will return west having backed up their second half in the Sportsground nine days ago, which they outscored Connacht by 38-0, with another commanding bonus-point interpro away win against Munster, But hard taskmaster that he is, Lancaster was far from satisfied with their last three halves of rugby.
“I was delighted with the reintegration of the Ireland players, they played Scotland and then had a week off and it always takes a while, it’s a similar style of play but they have different calls in their mind and they’re trying to get up to speed with what we’ve done in their absence. They’ve been away for seven or eight weeks and then you’ve got the training sessions and then you’ve got Munster away.
“So you’re hoping for a good performance and you’re hoping for cohesion and accuracy and to a large extent we got that, but equally there were plenty of examples that I could show this morning where we were . . . there’s another level we can go to, and I think it’s a good message to the playing group in the lead-in to Europe that we need to get to that point because it’s knock-out rugby now, albeit this is a two-legged affair.
“Delighted to get the bonus point win down there but plenty to work on.”
