Leinster’s Lions look set to miss Africa trip
LEINSTER coach Leo Cullen does not expect to have any of his five Lions available when they make their historic trip to South Africa next month to take on the Cheetahs and the Southern Kings.
Cullen admitted there were challenges to be dealt with when they become the first side in the new Pro14 to travel to South Africa.
Leinster will be away for almost two weeks on what is essentially a mini-tour, but Cullen (below) doesn’t expect any of his Lions to be available.
Injuries will rule out Jonathan Sexton and Robbie Henshaw and the Leinster coach is planning without Jack McGrath, Tadhg Furlong and Sean O’Brien for the opening games against Dragons and Cardiff and the two matches in South Africa.
‘They will probably miss the majority of those four games. It’s a little bit on a case by case basis but as things stand the majority of those guys will miss those four games,’ said Cullen, whose side opened their campaign with a 42-32 loss away to Perpignan on Friday night.
But Cullen is hopeful that Jamie Heaslip and Rob Kearney, both of whom missed the Lions tour and Ireland’s summer games in the USA and Japan, will be available.
Kearney, out since March after surgery on a bicep injury, could feature in next weekend’s clash with Gloucester at Templeville Road, with Heaslip expected to follow shortly afterwards having recovered from a back problem.
‘Jamie is making good progress he is probably close to playing. Just get him through a bit more rugby volume. He is still a little bit away so he is unlikely to feature next week but there are a couple of others.
‘We will make a few calls during the week on the likes of Dave Kearney, Fergus McFadden, Rob Kearney, Michael Bent and Richardt Strauss,’ he said.
Cullen said the addition of the two South African teams is a boost for the tournament but admitted there are logistical difficulties, not least being landed with a double fixture there so early in the season.
‘We have some challenges. Charlie Higgins, who’s our head strength and conditioner, he has worked with the Western Force. He has got a lot of experience with travel and a number of guys travelled with Ireland as well last summer.
‘So having had that experience as well is a help. We have Stuart Lancaster too who has been in South Africa with England. ‘It’s a different challenge because there is a little bit of an unknown with the Kings and Cheetahs because we’ve seen them playing in the Super Rugby this season but the shape of their team may alter slightly.
‘Overall, it’s a really exciting adventure now for us, stepping into the unknown and it’s going to be a great experience for us and for whatever players go over there and us coaches as well. They will bring a hell of a lot to the league.
‘We have just got to get on with it. The fixtures are set in stone, there are a couple of fixtures that I was scratching my head about but we just get on with it now and we are excited to get going with two more pre-season games which will leave us hopefully in good shape going into the Dragons game,’ added Cullen.