Winless Leinster welcome back injured Lions tourist to their ranks

Leinster have received a timely boost ahead of their URC Round 3 clash with the Hollywoodbets Sharks at Aviva Stadium, with British & Irish Lion Jamie Osborne cleared to return.

Head coach Leo Cullen confirmed that the 22-year-old back has resumed full training after recovering from the minor hamstring injury that kept him sidelined for the opening rounds of the competition.

Osborne’s return will be a welcome sight for the province, who are still chasing their first win of the campaign after defeats to the DHL Stormers and Vodacom Bulls in South Africa.

There were no fresh injury concerns reported from the touring group, and no players were listed as requiring further assessment.

Cullen added there were no new updates on Jordan Larmour, Cormac Foley, Caelan Doris, Joe McCarthy or Hugo Keenan, all of whom remain sidelined.

Ireland winger Larmour had only just returned from injury but picked up a fresh foot injury against the Stormers.

Leinster were thrashed by the Cape Town side 35-0 in the opening round but pushed the Bulls all the way in Pretoria over the weekend, eventually losing 39-31 in a closely fought affair.

“It doesn’t matter what team Leinster sends to South Africa; they are always a quality outfit,” Bulls centre David Kriel said after the game. “You can’t pitch up and just expect it’s going to happen, you have got to make it happen. Luckily, the scoreboard was in our favour, but there is a lot to work on.”

The Dublin-based side find themselves in the unfamiliar position of 15th out of 16 in the URC log (just one place above the Scarlets), a tournament they celebrated winning just four months ago.