LEINSTER SAY THEY’RE uncertain if Ryan Baird will play again this season as the explosive forward deals with a setback after returning from a fractured leg.

Baird fractured his tibia while playing for Ireland in November, and there were initially fears that his campaign might have been ended at that stage.

However, the 26-year-old made a strong recovery and had a welcome return in the second row for Leinster in their win over Edinburgh in the Champions Cup earlier this month.

His comeback was particularly well-timed after an ACL rupture had finished Leinster lock RG Snyman’s season.

Baird started again in the quarter-final victory against Sale a week later, impressing at blindside flanker before he had to limp off in the second half.

The Ireland international is now back on Leinster’s longer-term injury list and assistant coach Robin McBryde has confirmed that the setback is related to the leg fracture from earlier this season.

“It’s a reoccurrence… it’s around that,” said McBryde.

“It’s not as bad as what it was previously.”

The original tibia fracture kept Baird sidelined for more than four months, so the hope will be that Leinster can get him back on the pitch sooner rather than later.

However, McBryde said it’s unclear whether this issue will end Baird’s campaign or not.

“Don’t know,” said McBryde. “We’ve just got to wait and see on that one.”

Andrew Porter remains a doubt for Leinster. Grace Halton / INPHO Grace Halton / INPHO / INPHO

Baird will definitely miss this Saturday’s Champions Cup semi-final against Toulon in Dublin, but the return to availability of wing James Lowe has boosted Leinster, while Jordan Larmour and Diarmuid Mangan have also recovered from injuries.

Leinster have doubts over loosehead prop Andrew Porter, who suffered a shoulder/pec injury four weekends ago against Edinburgh, while tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong was forced off in the first half of last weekend’s URC loss to Benetton with an apparent hamstring issue.

“We’ve got to monitor Tadhg,” said McBryde. “You can understand with his recent history with injury, the first sign of anything is going to be a concern, really.

“Listen, fortunately, we’ve got Thomas Clarkson, who I thought came on and did very well. The experiences of someone like Rabah Slimani as well. And then we’ve got two youngsters coming through in Niall Smyth and Andrew Sparrow.

“Because of the nature of those injuries that we’ve had in the front row, they’ve had quite a bit more exposure than what they would have had, had there not been those injuries, so it’s a good challenge for our strength in depth.”

McBryde said it’s a similar story with Porter, who is one of several Leinster looseheads who have suffered with injury this season.

Jack Boyle and Paddy McCarthy had their seasons ended, while academy loosehead Alex Usanov was also cut down by injury, meaning Leinster re-signed Ed Byrne on a short-term deal from Cardiff to give themselves another option in that position.

Leinster won’t rush Porter back if he’s not ready.

“He’s being monitored,” said McBryde. “We’ll just see. Again, with the nature of his injury, you’re not going to force anything at this stage. It’s important that he’s 100% fit first and foremost. Yeah, we’ll see how he goes, just monitoring him.”

McBryde said he believes Leinster can register Byrne to their Champions Cup squad if required due to the emergency nature of their injuries at loosehead prop.

“I think so, yeah,” said McBryde.