ROBBIE HENSHAW IS on course to make his first appearance of the season when Leinster host Edinburgh in the Guinness Pro14 on Friday week.
The Ireland centre has been out of action since tearing his pectoral muscle off the bone during the Lions’ draw with the Hurricanes in June, an injury which required immediate surgical intervention.
But Henshaw hasn’t encountered any issues during his 12-week recovery programme and he’s in line to return next week when the eastern province face Richard Cockerill’s side at the RDS.
“It will be twelve weeks on Monday,” Henshaw said of his road to recovery. “Everything has gone to plan. There were no setbacks or hiccups.”
The 24-year-old’s comeback comes at a good time for Leinster with Leo Cullen’s side playing Munster at the Aviva on 7 October before back-to-back Champions Cup games against Montpellier and Glasgow Warriors.
Leinster’s options in midfield have been severely depleted in the early weeks of the season with Henshaw joined on the injured list by Garry Ringrose, Tom Daly and, up until last week, Noel Reid.
Cullen was forced to deploy the makeshift partnership of Isa Nacewa and Rory O’Loughlin in the centre for the first two games of the campaign, before Reid returned from a hand injury last weekend to score in the win over the Kings.
It remains to be seen whether Sean O’Brien will be used by Leinster next week while there’s no update on Jack McGrath, Tadhg Furlong or Johnny Sexton, who have all been training at Leinster’s UCD base while the squad are in South Africa.
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