Leinster sweating over Baird and Lowe injuries

Leinster are sweating on at least two major injury concerns ahead of their Heineken Champions Cup semi-final against Toulouse, revealing this afternoon that they may be without the services of Ryan Baird and James Lowe.

Leinster hammered Leicester Tigers 55-24 in front of a restricted 27,000 crowd at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night, but it didn’t come without a cost.

Baird, who was forced to leave the field in the first half against Leicester Tigers, has been ruled out for at least a “few weeks” due to a shoulder injury. Meanwhile, Lowe injured his calf in the second half of the same game, and his status is still uncertain as further assessments are required.

Lowe appeared to injure himself celebrating Jamieson Gibson-Park’s second-half try.

Leinster had already been dealing with several injuries ahead of their quarter-final clash with the Tigers. However, the likes of Caelan Doris and Garry Ringrose were cleared to play after successfully returning from the Graduated Return to Play Protocols. They both made a successful return to the field and came through the game with no issues.

The absence of Baird and Lowe would undoubtedly be a significant blow to Leinster’s chances of securing a place in a home final in the Aviva. The back-5 forward has been in impressive form this season, while Lowe has been one of the top try-scorers in the competition so far. As Leinster prepares for the crucial clash with Toulouse, Leo Cullen will be hoping that Lowe’s injury is not serious.

The Irish province said they have no further updates on the status of other injured players, including Josh van der Flier, Johnny Sexton, Jamie Osborne, Rónan Kelleher, Joe McCarthy, Cormac Foley, Martin Moloney, and Charlie Ngatai.

Over the weekend Ireland and Leinster legend Sexton appeared to indicate in an interview with the Sunday Times that he had played his last game for Leinster.