Leinster coach Matt O’Connor stated today that Mike McCarthy trained with the squad following a calf strain and should feature in Saturday’s Pro 12 final against the Glasgow Warriors at the RDS.
That means Quinn Roux would drop out of the match-day squad as club captain Leo Cullen is retained on the bench and McCarthy partners Devin Toner in the secondrow.
Jamie Heaslip will lead the side out against the Glasgow Warriors, meaning one of the backrowers capped for Ireland this season will be sitting in the stands.
Jordi Murphy was the odd man out for the 13-9 semi-final victory over Ulster on May 17th despite nailing down a bench slot in Joe Schmidt's Ireland squad during the Six Nations and being named in the Pro 12 team of the season.
Rhys Ruddock, another member of the Pro 12 XV, continued his excellent campaign at number six against Ulster with Seán O'Brien on the bench.
Following shoulder surgery last January, O’Brien was not expected to return until pre-season but his typically dramatic recovery has come as a boost to Leinster even if he will not tour Argentina with Ireland.
“It’s a good position to be in,” said O’Connor. “The challenge is making sure we get the balance of that right and we get the combination of that right in relation to blokes who will perform and get us a result on Saturday.”
Shane Jennings is expected to start at openside flanker so that leaves an indirect decision for O'Connor between Murphy and Ruddock. If he goes with Ruddock, O'Brien will provide cover but if he starts O'Brien on the blindside, Murphy's versatility should get him onto the bench with Ruddock losing out.
Meanwhile, Dave Kearney undergoes surgery to repair his anterior cruciate knee ligament on Friday.
"It's been tough," said Rob Kearney. "The bad thing for him is he seemed to be on such a high arc with every game. Timing wise, could have been worse, could have been better. Injury wise, he could have done a lot more damage than he actually did.
“He is going in for surgery on Friday, it was meant to be three or four weeks but he has got his range of movement and swelling went down quite quickly. ACL’s are never nice – should be around four, five or six months.”
The younger Kearney's absence means Zane Kirchner and Fergus McFadden will be the starting wingers with Brendan Macken or Noel Reid, who were the centre partnership in the British and Irish cup final last Friday night when Leinster A beat Leeds Carnegie 44-17, will wear number 23.
Reid, a natural number 12, was withdrawn after 46 minutes while Macken, a 13 by trade, galloped all of 80 metres for an intercept try.
“Drico would never score that today,” quipped O’Connor this afternoon. “Although he scored one like that against Munster in ’09 (Heineken Cup semi-final.”)
Luke Fitzgerald (groin) and Richardt Strauss (hamstring) are the only other players already ruled out for the season.
