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Niall Carson/PA Wire
Heineken Cup

O'Driscoll loses race to regain fitness for Wembley

The Leinster centre can’t recover from his hamstring injury in time to face Saracens tomorrow at England’s football HQ.

LEINSTER CENTRE Brian O’Driscoll has lost his race to be fit in time for his side’s glamour tie with Saracens at Wembley tomorrow evening.

O’Driscoll limped off midway during the second half in Leinster’s 38-22 victory over French Top 14 leaders Racing Metro 92 at the RDS last Saturday, having been caught wrong-footed attempting to tackle Fijian centre Albert Vulivuli.

Though it was originally suspected that O’Driscoll could be out of action for three weeks – leaving him without much time to regain match fitness ahead of the autumn internationals – there were hopes that the Ireland captain could make the first 15 for the weekend’s game, the first time a Heineken Cup game will have been played at the new stadium.

The centre earlier tweeted that while it was “very disappointing to miss Wembley”, he would at least “get to jog around the hallowed turf, as a waterboy!”

Club captain Leo Cullen also fails to make the side, though he will appear on the bench. Jamie Heaslip retains the captaincy, while Devon Toner retains his spot in the second row in Cullen’s absence.

There is no place in the starting side for Fergus McFadden, who replaced O’Driscoll on Saturday – instead, Jonathan Sexton starts at out-half, with Isa Nacewa and Shane Horgan on the wings, while Luke Fitzgerald moves into the centre alongside Gordon D’Arcy.

Leinster line out as follows:

  • Backs: R Kearney, S Horgan, L Fitzgerald, G D’Arcy, I Nacewa, J Sexton, E Reddan.
  • Forwards: C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross, N Hines, D Toner, S O’Brien, S Jennings, JHeaslip (c).
  • Replacements: J Harris-Wright, H van der Merwe, S Shawe, L Cullen, D Ryan, I Boss, F McFadden, E O’Malley.