Hugo Keenan and James Lowe to miss start of the season for Leinster

Leinster’s Hugo Keenan and James Lowe will miss the start of Leinster’s URC season, which begins against Zebre Parma in Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi at 1pm on Saturday (live on RTÉ, Premier Sports & URC TV).

Keenan is rehabbing a knee and abdominal issue and will be unavailable for a number of weeks, while Lowe picked up a calf injury in training. James Tracy and Liam Turner are also out.

There will be late fitness checks on Joe McCarthy, who had an ankle procedure over the summer but is due to increase his training load this week and Jordan Larmour, who had a knee procedure.

Rónan Kelleher (shoulder), Dave Kearney (hamstring), Will Connors (knee) and Ross Byrne (foot) have all returned to the squad and are fit for selection.