Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Ryan returns but Leinster sweat on fitness of key men ahead of Pro14 final

Leinster second row James Ryan. (Getty)

Leinster expect to have James Ryan available for selection for Saturday’s Guinness Pro14 final against Ulster following his remarkable recovery from shoulder surgery. In early August Ryan was ruled out for a period of 10-12 weeks after sustaining a shoulder injury in training, but the 24-year-old is now on course to return to action well ahead of schedule, with the province confirming the lock “is expected to be available for selection for the Ulster Rugby game after recovering from a shoulder injury.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The defending Pro14 champions could also have Dan Leavy in the mix as he steps up his recovery from a long term knee injury, but the outlook is less clear for Jordan Larmour and Tadhg Furlong.

Larmour failed a HIA after being removed from play during the second half of Leinster’s semi-final defeat last Friday. The fullback will continue to follow the graduated return to play protocols this week.

Video Spacer

Watch the Lions in South Africa in 2021

Video Spacer

Watch the Lions in South Africa in 2021

Meanwhile Furlong, who has yet to feature since the rugby restart, will be further reviewed this week following his return from a back injury.

Leinster also confirmed that Leavy, who hasn’t played any rugby since suffering a serious knee injury last year, will also be reviewed throughout the week.

Fergus McFadden will look to increase his training load as he steps up his rehabilitation from a calf injury, but will not be fit for the decider against Ulster.

There was no new update on the fitness of Vakh Abdaladze (back), Dave Kearney (hamstring), Conor O’Brien (hamstring) and Adam Byrne (hamstring).

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

A
AM 41 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

72 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Seven stars set to light up the Autumn Nations Series Seven stars set to light up the Autumn Nations Series
Search