After a heavy 38-17 defeat to Glasgow in Scotland last weekend Leinster can count on Andrew Porter’s all-business attitude for Friday’s United Rugby Championship game against the Scarlets at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 7.45pm].
The Irish loosehead prop returns having missed the Six Nations with a calf injury he picked up in January. Other good news for Leinster is that Ryan Baird, who broke his leg during Ireland’s defeat to South Africa last November, has resumed full training.
Leinster will monitor how Baird and a few other players, including James Ryan and RG Snyman, react to their injuries during the week.
Leinster’s outhalf dilemma
“He’s a real individual character, he brings a great energy, world-class player, so it’s always great to see that guy running around next to you as well,” said assistant coach Tyler Bleyendaal on the return of Porter.
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“He’s out on the pitch with great energy, he’s always making people smile, but he gets down to the nitty-gritty as well. He’s about business, so it’s good to have him back in the mix, I’m really excited for him.”
Snyman didn’t train with the squad on Monday. The two times World Cup winner with South Africa started the match against Glasgow in the secondrow alongside Brian Deeny.
“He’s getting checked today, he didn’t train today on the field,” said Bleyendaal. “I’m not sure where he’s at to be honest.”
Bleyendaal added that Leinster have targeted winning all their games from here until the end of the season. Currently in fourth place on URC table, hopes are for at least a top-four placing for a potential home quarter-final but preferably a top two position for a potential home semi-final.
Leinster have lost five matches and won eight and sit below Ulster, Stormers and top-placed Glasgow.
“I haven’t done the mathematics, but our goal is to win all the matches in the league up until the end,” said Bleyendaal. “We’ve got to play teams that are in and around us as well. Other teams have to go to South Africa.
“It’s just a challenging time of year. I don’t think there’s any panic, but we want to perform better. We want to win more matches because we do want to finish higher up on that league table.
“I think there’s all sorts of variations that are out of our control, but we need to perform better. That starts on Friday, I think.”
Scarlets were one of the sides that beat Leinster last season when they won 35-22 in April, the Welsh side’s first win over Leinster since the end of 2018.
“Obviously last year they did a great job on us, physically, tactically,” said Bleyendaal. “We took a lot of learnings from that match. It’s an exciting week, it’s a challenging week, we’re probably going to try and bring a few guys back into the mix.”
There were no further injury updates on Jack Boyle, Hugh Cooney, Jordan Larmour, James Lowe, Diarmuid Mangan and Paddy McCarthy.
