Nothing new in flanker’s absence

SEAN O’BRIEN’S unavailability for Leinster’s Champions Cup games against Montpellier and Glasgow was the third time in six seasons that the flanker has failed to appear in the opening rounds of the province’s European campaign.

O’Brien has been slow to recover from a stamp on his calf in his only appearance this term, last month’s league fixture with Edinburgh 23 days ago.

His latest absence only emphasises how he struggles to be fit at this particular time of the year.

Only once in six seasons has he managed to play in both of Leinster’s early European games – in 2013 – his only other appearances in either rounds one and two in that timespan coming against Montpellier last year and in the 2015 opener versus Wasps.

Overall, he has figured in just 14 of Leinster’s 37 European Cup games (38 per cent) since October 2012.

That’s quite a contrast to the exceptional durability the 30-yearold demonstrated in Leinster’s back-to-back triumphs in 2011 and 2012 when he started all 18 matches as the then Joe Schmidtcoached club swept all before it.

O’Brien’s European debut came nine years ago when he started in the December 2008 RDS win over Castres.