ADAM BYRNE IS set to make his long-awaited return from injury when Leinster resume their Guinness Pro14 campaign against Edinburgh on Friday night, but Sean O’Brien and Garry Ringrose remained sidelined.
Byrne is now in the final stages of rehabilitation following a knee procedure last month and will return to training this week with a view to being involved in some capacity at Myreside.
The 23-year-old hasn’t played since making his Ireland debut in the November Test against Argentina and after attempting to rehab the problem without surgery, was then forced to return to the specialist and go under the knife.
His return will provide Leo Cullen with a boost as Leinster begin preparations for their clash with Richard Cockerill’s side with limited numbers, given 19 of the squad are away on international duty and six more — Ringrose, O’Brien, James Tracy, Rhys Ruddock, Jamie Heaslip and Tom Daly — are all out.
There was no update on the fitness of O’Brien and Ringrose, who continue to recover from hip and ankle problems respectively, but the province hope to have both back at some stage during this four-game block.
Barry Daly has also been called into Ireland camp by Joe Schmidt, while Cathal Marsh, will miss the next four games after injuring his toe in the build-up to the A fixture against Doncaster in the British and Irish Cup.
Dave Kearney, Isa Nacewa and Scott Fardy are all fit and available for Friday’s away trip, but should the latter start in the second row, Leinster will have to choose between Jamison Gibson-Park and James Lowe due to the overseas player rule which is enforced in the Pro14 as well as the Champions Cup.
It was also confirmed by the IRFU earlier that Josh van der Flier has been ruled out for the remainder of the season with a serious knee ligament injury he sustained in Paris on Saturday.
Leinster head into Friday’s clash with Edinburgh second in Conference B behind Scarlets having won their last five Pro14 games.
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