O’Driscoll set to face Edinburgh

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL has been included in the Leinster squad to face Edinburgh in the Magners League tie at Murrayfield on Friday but a final decision on the centre’s fitness won’t be made until tomorrow at lunchtime.

The Leinster and Ireland captain has been sidelined since picking up a hamstring injury during the Six Nations game against Wales in early March.

The initial prognosis was that O’Driscoll would be fit to return within three or four weeks but six weeks will have elapsed by the time Michael Cheika’s side line up against the Scottish side in Edinburgh.

Though included in last week’s squad to face Munster, O’Driscoll was not among the final 22. Leinster are more hopeful that he will be fit to feature this week, although a reconstituted midfield of Luke Fitzgerald and Felipe Contepomi fared quite well last Saturday.

O’Driscoll’s regular partner in midfield for club and country, Gordon D’Arcy, also misses out but may be available for the next fixture at home to the Dragons at the start of May.

Bernard Jackman, man of the match against Munster, is included in the squad despite suffering what appeared at the time to be a concussion during the latter stages of that game.

Though Leinster won’t claim the title in Edinburgh, Contepomi is closing in on another milestone.

Following his 18-point haul in the 21-12 victory over Munster, the Argentinian is now just 19 points away from reaching the 1,000-point mark for the province in 93 Heineken Cup and Magners League appearances.

The 30-year-old contributed six penalties last weekend and is in second place in this year’s Magners League rankings (107 points), 16 points behind Glasgow’s Dan Parks.

Leinster squad (v Edinburgh): Forwards: C Healy, O le Roux, B Blaney, B Jackman, S Knoop, S Wright, L Cullen, T Hogan, M O’Kelly, C Jowitt, S Keogh, K Gleeson, S Jennings, J Heaslip.

Backs: C Keane, C Whitaker, F Contepomi, J Sexton, L Fitzgerald, R Kearney, M Berne, C Warner, B O’Driscoll, E O’Malley, G Brown, S Horgan, G Dempsey.