LEINSTER HEAD COACH Leo Cullen will be without his captain Isa Nacewa for the next couple of fixtures after the fullback underwent surgery last week.
The 33-year-old will be sidelined for two to three weeks after undergoing a surgical procedure to rectify ‘a minor issue with his knee’.
It’s another setback for the province, who are set to go into Friday’s Pro12 clash against Dragons without up to 35 players.
At yesterday’s weekly media briefing in UCD, Cullen admitted his resources were stretched with 16 players away on Ireland duty and just as many in the treatment room.
“We’re going to have to place a lot of faith in the squad now,” he said.
“We’ve managed all those bodies accordingly. We’ll still have a strong team that runs out this weekend. There’s plenty to play for. Our attention just turns to the league now.”
Nacewa will definitely miss the trip to Wales and is likely to be a major doubt for the meeting with Zebre on 12 February.
He was forced to pull out of Leinster’s opening European game against Wasps in November at the last minute after jarring his knee in training.
It’s not known if the same problem was causing him trouble but after being ruled out of the heavy defeat in Coventry last week, he went under the knife ahead of the business end of the season.
It was also confirmed yesterday that Marty Moore, who will join Wasps at the end of the season, will be out for six to eight weeks while Mike Ross, Cian Healy and Collie O’Shea are all still some time away from returning.
