LEINSTER HEAD COACH Leo Cullen is hopeful of having ‘one or two’ Ireland players available for the province’s Guinness Pro12 clash with Edinburgh this Friday.
With the Six Nations heading into a week’s break, Joe Schmidt has the option of releasing some of his squad for provincial duty this weekend with Leinster hosting Edinburgh at the RDS.
“We’ll see how those guys present after the weekend,” Cullen said after yesterday’s bonus-point win over Treviso. “Potentially there might be one or two guys coming back but it’s a short turnaround. We’re back in Monday for recovery.
“We just need to make sure we prepare as well as we can and it’ll be nice to be back at the RDS again and to try and put in a big performance in front of our own fans.”
Sunday’s 40-14 hammering of the Italians saw Leinster continue where they left off in the Pro12 with Cullen’s men running in six tries at the Stadio Comunale di Monigo.
Dave Kearney marked his return from injury with a first-half brace while Joey Carbery and Mike Ross also made a welcome return ahead of the business end of the season.
Dave Kearney scored two tries in Italy. Source: Alfio Guarise/INPHO
“We’re pleased obviously to get the win, to get five points was really, really pleasing,” Cullen added.
“To score 40 points away from home is always pleasing but there was definitely a bit of rustiness I suppose in our performance.
“We scored six tries, three in each half, but there were definitely a lot more opportunities left out there but it was good to get that game under guy’s belts. It has been a while since we played and quite a while since a lot of these guys have played together. All in all, we’re pretty pleased.”