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Cooney picked up a chest injury during the defeat to La Rochelle. James Crombie/INPHO
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Ulster sweating over the fitness of half-back pairing ahead of Leinster inter-pro

Christian Lealiifano and John Cooney are both doubts for Saturday.

ULSTER ARE WAITING to hear on the fitness of half-backs Christian Lealiifano and John Cooney ahead of Saturday’s Guinness Pro14 derby against Leinster.

The pair are doubts for the inter-pro clash at Kingspan Stadium after suffering hamstring and chest injuries during the Champions Cup defeat to La Rochelle last Sunday.

There are also concerns over prop Wiehhan Herbst, who picked up a calf problem in France with the northern province waiting until later in the week to make a final decision over their availability.

“Christian is a bit tight and sore, just see how he pulls through,” Ulster forwards coach Aaron Dundon said.

“Obviously he was out of rugby for a while and he has been playing a lot of minutes lately, so there is a bit of fatigue there and a bit of tiredness so trying to manage him as best we can.”

Since his arrival on a short-term contract in August, out-half Lealiifano has played in seven of Ulster’s games this season and has formed a promising partnership with Cooney.

Meanwhile, Ulster, are hopeful of having Kyle McCall fit and ready for the sold-out clash with Leinster after he pulled out of the La Rochelle game prior to kick off.

Dundon added: “He got injured in a scrummaging session on Thursday. We didn’t think it was too bad, we were hoping he would be alright so we brought him away.

“The doctor was with us and physio and he got as much treatment as he could, but he just felt at the end of the day he was not able to give 100% so we had obviously Andy Warwick who was travelling anyway and we made a decision to play Andy.

“So hopefully Kyle will be alright this week. With Kyle it is an injury, seven to eight days sort of injury so hopefully he will pull through. We will not be able to make that decision until later in the week.”

Jean Deysel and Louis Ludik should also be back in contention after missing the round two fixture against La Rochelle while captain Rory Best is set for his first start of the season on Saturday evening.

Ulster and Leinster are both on 23 points in Conference B after six rounds, with defending Pro12 champions Scarlets sitting top.

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