Leinster received a minor scare on the training ground two days before their opening Heineken European Cup match against Gloucester at Lansdowne Road when Brian O'Driscoll sustained a sprained calf in training.
Initial fears that he might be sidelined from the game were dispelled last night though by coach Michael Cheika after discussions with his captain.
"He took a bang on the calf but I spoke to him an hour ago and he said that the icing has worked and he should be able to play, and having spoken to him I'm sure he'll be alright," said Cheika. However Leinster are likely to be without Cameron Jowitt and Chris Whitaker, whose nagging shoulder injury continues to leave him in pain and looks like sidelining him for the third week running.
With Guy Easterby hors de combat for an estimated six weeks with a broken jaw, Cillian Willis is set to make his full competitive debut for Leinster in the rarefied atmosphere of an Anglo-Irish match on the opening week of the European Cup in front of what will surely be a record 30,000 attendance for a Leinster pool match.
As Leinster do not have a fourth scrumhalf in their registered 38-man squad for the competition, it is likely that one of their outhalves, Andy Dunne, will be required to understudy Willis from the bench.
• Munster outhalf Ronan O'Gara has certainly stirred things up this week with a withering assessment of English rugby.
"I honestly think that both for Munster and Ireland, we have got more talented players than the English in many positions," O'Gara told The Guardian.
"Maybe that will surprise a few people in England, but our Celtic League is looked down upon because it isn't covered by Sky Sports. I watch some Premiership rugby, and the way they hype these English guys is unbelievable. Some of the people they are trying to put on a pedestal just don't deserve to be there."
