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Ryan returns but Leinster sweat on fitness of key men ahead of Pro14 final
By Ciarán Kennedy
Leinster expect to have James Ryan available for selection for Saturday's Guinness Pro14 final against Ulster following his remarkable recovery from shoulder surgery. In early August Ryan was ruled out for a period of 10-12 weeks after sustaining a shoulder injury in training, but the 24-year-old is now on course to return to action well ahead of schedule, with the province confirming the lock "is expected to be available for selection for the Ulster Rugby game after recovering from a shoulder injury."
The defending Pro14 champions could also have Dan Leavy in the mix as he steps up his recovery from a long term knee injury, but the outlook is less clear for Jordan Larmour and Tadhg Furlong.
Larmour failed a HIA after being removed from play during the second half of Leinster's semi-final defeat last Friday. The fullback will continue to follow the graduated return to play protocols this week.
Meanwhile Furlong, who has yet to feature since the rugby restart, will be further reviewed this week following his return from a back injury.
Leinster also confirmed that Leavy, who hasn't played any rugby since suffering a serious knee injury last year, will also be reviewed throughout the week.
Fergus McFadden will look to increase his training load as he steps up his rehabilitation from a calf injury, but will not be fit for the decider against Ulster.
There was no new update on the fitness of Vakh Abdaladze (back), Dave Kearney (hamstring), Conor O’Brien (hamstring) and Adam Byrne (hamstring).
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I want to select a good fly-half.
Defence is a problem, but I don't know what should be done about it. I'd like england to stick with the felix jones system, but its pointless for me to make that claim, given I have no idea whether el-abd is capable of coaching that system. Ultimately I just have to trust him and Borthwick to come up with the best solution.
But I do know enough to say that Marcus is a worse fly-half than Fin and Ford, and that some of the issues with defence would be fixed if they prioritised a more controlled attacking and kicking game over the chaos that Marcus brings and which allows the blitz to be thrown into disarray on the counter.
Go to commentsScott Robertson is within his rights to state a case. Richie Mo'unga would have made a huge difference to the All Blacks this year. To say he and Richie worked well together at the Crusaders is a massive understatement. 7 titles speaks for itself. He then guided Brave Lupus to the Japanese League title in 2024. It worked well when Richie's fellow Crusaders great Matt Todd and team mate ,was able to play for the All Blacks while in Japan in 2018.
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