BERNARD JOSH
Van der Flier doffs cap to pal Brogan after Dub star’s amazing recovery
A FIT Sean O’brien is ready to help Leinster eradicate the rare dips in form they suffered last year.
It’s timely that the
Tullow Tank (right) has resumed full training ahead of
Saturday’s
Pro14 trip to the
Sportsground, where Leinster were demolished 47-10 by Connacht last April.
O’brien has been out for five months with his latest injury, a shoulder problem.
But Leinster assistant boss John Fogarty said: “He’s back. “Mentally, he’s dying to get back involved in this team. “He’s a huge addition, even in meetings. He adds such value.
“Sean’s a little bit different. There’s an edge to Sean in everything he does. There’s times when we lacked that last year – definitely against Ospreys away, Treviso at home, Connacht away.
“Physically we were dominated.
“We lacked edge, the intangible thing Sean can bring. He’s a very valuable player.”
But Leinster could be without James Ryan and Dan Leavy for their first interpro of the new campaign.
The Ireland forwards suffered head injuries in last Saturday’s bonus point win over Edinburgh and are undergoing return to play protocols. JOSH van der Flier beat his comeback date by two months – and still lost his fitness race with Dublin football star Bernard Brogan.
“He wasn’t telling me something,” laughed the Leinster flanker as he revealed how the pair encouraged each other throughout their respective injury rehabs this year. “He beat me by a month and a half. It’s 1-0 Bernard!” Van der Flier had a cruciate ligament operation at the Santry Clinic in February – on the same day and in the same place as Brogan (right).
“I didn’t even know that he was in,” the 25-year-old recalled. “Ray Moran, who did the surgery came in and said, ‘I just did Bernard’s there, you can be buddies’.
“It was cool to have someone to compare to along the way. We just texted every few weeks. “I wouldn’t know him very well. It was just, ‘How are you getting on? How’s it been?’. “You’d be like, ‘I’m back doing squats, how are you doing?’, and he might reply, ‘Grand, it’s sore doing this but I find that icing is working’. That kind of thing.”
Remarkably, Brogan was back in action for Dublin in July, making his only Championship appearance of the summer, a six minute cameo against Roscommon in the Super Eights.
“It was incredible,” said van der Flier, who made his competitive return in Leinster’s win against the Dragons 10 days ago, having suffered his injury at the Stade de France in the opening game of Ireland’s Grand Slam-winning Six Nations campaign.
He followed that up with another impressive back row shift in the victory over Edinburgh last Saturday. But while Brogan isn’t a professional athlete, van der Flier has a logical explanation as to why the 34-year-old made it back first.
“He’s a bit older than me and was trying to get back for the end of a season, I can’t imagine he has too many years left playing.
“It would have been silly for me to rush back with a whole season ahead. I was incredibly impressed (with Brogan) and he’s been doing very well for his club as well by all accounts.
“They didn’t want me pushing. I was pushing to get back as soon as possible, but the physios were... I remember I wanted to run at the end of May and they were saying, ‘No, you’re not running until July’.
“I’ve done about seven months of gym three or four times a week, so I’m probably the strongest I’ve ever been.” CONOR MURRAY’S neck injury may not be as bad as initially feared.
A date has not been set for his return but Munster forwards coach Jerry Flannery said: “He is progressing well. “It’s positive and we are seeing more and more of him on the pitch. He is beginning to start taking contact and things like that, so that’s good.”
But while Ireland scrum-half Murray (inset) might be poised to give the Reds a badly needed lift after their poor showing in Cardiff at the weekend, hooker Rhys Marshall could be set for a few weeks on the sideline.
The 25-year-old – Munster’s top try scorer so far in this campaign with three – was due to undergo a scan yesterday on a calf injury.