O’BRIEN LOOKING GOOD TO RETURN
LEINSTER head coach Leo Cullen says Seán O’Brien is making good progress in his bid to be fit for the province’s Champions Cup semi-final clash with Saracens on Sunday, April 1. O’Brien missed Ireland’s Six Nations campaign after overcoming a hip injury only to pick up a shoulder problem in the first half of his Leinster comeback against Scarlets on March 9. ‘He’s not a million miles away, [we’ll] see how he comes through the next few days, we’ll know a bit more,’ said Cullen. If O’Brien (right) does return for the Saracens game, then it could see Dan Leavy demoted to the bench. Leavy started four of Ireland’s five Six Nations games after replacing the injured Josh van der Flier on the opening weekend against France. And Cullen admitted it may be difficult to keep his squad happy over the coming weeks. ‘Well, we’ve used 52 players already this season, so it’s a competitive group and there’s going to be 23 guys picked for the big knockout games, and all the players want to be involved in those knockout games. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that 52 doesn’t go into 23. ‘We want to have a competitive group and we’ve worked hard to build the depth and bring young guys through. You’ve got to give them their opportunities. Some of the young guys are doing really well. It makes it tough in terms of selection but it’s positive for the overall group because we want to be competitive.’ Luke McGrath has recovered from a knee problem and could feature this Saturday, where Leinster are away to Ospreys in the Pro14.