LEINSTER’S IN-FORM young hooker Ronan Kelleher will sit out four to six weeks with a hand injury, the province’s medics said today.
The 21-year-old has been in tremendous form through Leinster’s 11-match winning streak this season and has played his way towards consideration for international honours.
Kelleher sustained the hand injury in the away win over the Saints in round three of the Champions Cup. The worst-case return for his timeline presented today would leave him fit to return in time to be considered for Ireland’s Six Nations opener against Scotland.
During this weekend’s home win over the Saints, Ross Byrne suffered a dead leg and will be assessed during the week.
Jonathan Sexton, however, will return to see a specialist over the Christmas period in order to get a complete picture of the severity of the knee injury.
So we have 3 Pro14 games first, then the 2 Champions Cup game in January. Even if Sexton and Kelleher come good Farrel will more than likely have them for the Six Nations. And 10 or more others. Nice to have the Q final boxed off in the cup already and an 8point buffer in the league. Not too shabby so far. COYBIB.
@David: shame on me, turned out to be 17 others for the initial Farrel picks.
Real blow for Ronan with his rich form this short to 6 nations. But hopefully gets back up to these levels of consistency quickly. Hopefully a bit of game time for Ciara’s and Harry with Ross over the Christmas period will help them on.
I wouldn’t be surprised if his specialist was based on Lyon.
@Ken: already confirmed that he’s turned down the offer