LEINSTER AND IRELAND prop Martin Moore has been ruled out of action for ‘about 12 weeks’ today.
The tighthead suffered a shoulder injury and was replaced after 14 minutes of Leinster’s hard-fought 3 – 20 win over Zebre on Saturday.
“He got a bang on the shoulder,” said Leinster forwards coach Leo Cullen today.
“He’s with a specialist at the moment, but he looks like he’ll probably be out for about 12 weeks – it’s tough on Marty. He’s been going really well for us, working really hard over pre-season get himself in good shape and it’s going to be a big loss.”
To clear up how the injury occurred to the player many see as Ireland’s long-term solution at tighthead prop, Cullen added:
“He actually carried into a scrum-half so I’m not too sure [what happened]; whatever way he twisted his shoulder in the contact.
“He damaged his AC a few weeks ago, but he’s damaged his labrum now as well. It’s definitely a bit of a loss, but he was just carrying the ball in to contact.”
With Mike Ross turning 35 in December, many had expected Ireland coach Joe Schmidt to increase Moore’s playing time in next month’s international series. Now, he will have to look elsewhere.
With Cian Healy aslo a long-term absentee for Leinster, the province will turn to Tadhg Furlong and Michael Bent as understudies to Ross for the pool stages of the Champions Cup.
