Ringrose and O’Brien in frame to face Saints at Croker

LEINSTER have been handed a major fitness boost ahead of Saturday’s Champions Cup semi-final game against Northampton Saints at Croke Park with Garry Ringrose and Jimmy O’Brien both in the selection mix. Ringrose has been hampered by a shoulder issue since January while fellow international O’Brien has not featured for his province since December due to a neck injury. Both players returned to full training this week, however, and will be pushing to be included in Leo Cullen’s starting line-up later this week.

Hugo Keenan is still managing a hip problem but Leinster will give the Ireland full-back every chance to prove his fitness ahead of the European encounter at GAA HQ this weekend. Meanwhile, Leinster forwards coach Robin McBryde has defended the province’s decision to rest the majority of their frontliners over the past fortnight ahead of this weekend’s Champions Cup clash. Cullen left his international contingent back in Dublin, with a second-string squad travelling to South Africa for URC fixtures against the Lions and Stormers. An understrength squad failed to secure a single point across the two tour games while the likes of Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Joe McCarthy, Caelan Doris and Jamison Gibson-Park stayed home. Northampton, meanwhile, have come through some gruelling games in the Premiership of late and the English game’s form team will arrive in Dublin battle-hardened later this week. But McBryde believes Leinster’s approach may pay dividends later this week. ‘The result will dictate whether we could have done things a little differently really,’ said the former Wales hooker. ‘It’s a fine line between being battlehardened and battle-weary. ‘A lot of those players would have played a high number of minutes during the Six Nations so yeah, the result on Saturday will dictate whether we got things right or not. ‘Each individual is different. Some players, especially the big-game players, they are not interested in some of the weekin, week-out stuff.’