Leinster get some good news after bruising week on the injury front

There was some much-needed good news for Leinster on the injury front, with James Ryan and Ryan Baird both edging closer to returns after a bruising week in which the province learned RG Snyman will miss the rest of the season.

Head coach Leo Cullen reported no major concerns following his side’s bonus-point win over the Scarlets, a result that serves as the final stepping stone into next week’s Champions Cup last-16 meeting with Edinburgh.

While several frontline players took knocks or were managed carefully, Cullen said the squad had largely come through intact.

“Most of those guys, I don’t think there’s any showstoppers [injuries] there… I don’t know if there’s anyone too bad in there, but it’s just sort of knocks and niggles more than anything. Hopefully that’s what all those are.”

On Andrew Porter’s early exit, Cullen added: “We’ planning to get him off pretty early, so I don’t need it’s in too serious from what I can see initially.”

He explained that several players were close to being fully available again after a season broken up by injuries.

“Yeah, I think he’d [Ryan Baird] be pretty close to it… yeah, so see he’s come through the week, okay. He was in the coach’s box… sharing some of his wisdom.”

British & Irish Lions and Ireland second-row James Ryan could also be available sooner rather than later.

“It’ll be close, yeah. It’ll be close, yeah, yeah, yeah. Close. So we’ll see how close. Yeah, but he’s back, he’s back running at least anyway.”

Cullen was pleased that experience was finally returning to the group at the right time, after two losses on the trot before Friday night’s win over Scarlets.

“You’re mentioning Ryan Bard back training out, he’s pretty close to being back available as well. So listen, there’s lots of experience going back into the mix now and this and we need to make sure it counts.”

The head coach said Leinster were still ironing out issues caused by disrupted cohesion but credited his players for securing the five-point win.

“Listen, first of all, Scarlets came with real intent, didn’t they? It’s a proper crack for them, isn’t it? I don’t think they’re involved in a game next week, are they? So they were all in for this one, which is always dangerous when your team may have an eye on what’s ahead.”

“To come away with a bonus point win, that’s the most important thing for us. So win the game, try and score four… which we’ve managed to pretty early the second half.”

There were defensive lapses early on, and Cullen admitted Scarlets’ fast start exposed some looseness.

“Some of the discipline in the first half an hour… you give away penalties, what does that mean? Territory and possession. You give Scarlets a big advantage… we need to be better probably.”

One of the biggest positives was Jamie Osborne, whose seamless movement from playing fullback for Ireland during the Six Nations into the midfield impressed Cullen.

“He’s a quality footballer, so whether he’s 12, 13, 15, yeah. And I don’t think Jamie’s too sure himself. Listen, he loves just being out there running around, expressing himself.. he was class today, I thought really, really good.”

Cullen also addressed the flexibility of Andrew Porter amid speculation he might cover tighthead again given injuries at prop.

“Ports there, Andrew Porter, starting tonight for hasn’t played in a long time.

“Well, if you remember that Connacht game earlier in the year, he’d had to start as a loose head and he got dropped onto the bench as a reserve tighthead, Ports [Porter] is unbelievable in terms of flexibility, but it’s his actual mindset… once he got said around it, he was not bothered.”

Looking ahead to Edinburgh next Sunday, Cullen said the squad must fully commit to the week.

“We’re excited. We just need to go attack next week, because, you know it’s a knockout game… we need to make sure we get everything right on the day.”

He reiterated that focusing beyond the next match is pointless.

“Yeah, next week’s the only one matters… let’s just look at Edinburgh Easter Sunday. Still tickets available.”