O’Kelly citing adds to Leinster’s woes

LEINSTER lock Malcolm O’Kelly has been cited following an incident during the province’s Heineken Cup defeat by Wasps at Twickenham on Saturday.

O’Kelly was yellow-carded for appearing to stamp on Wasps’ Phil Vickery and the citing compounds the selection problems facing coach Michael Cheika ahead of Sunday’s crunch Heineken Cup game against Edinburgh at the RDS.

O’Kelly’s second row colleague Leo Cullen was forced out of the Wasps game with a shoulder injury and, worryingly for Cheika, it is the same shoulder that required an operation last year, a procedure which kept Cullen on the sidelines for some months.

Prop CJ van der Linde departed the action at the same time as Cullen last Saturday with a calf injury, while his fellow prop Stan Wright didn’t even make it to half-time due to a neck problem.

Hooker Bernard Jackman did not finish the game either and has been struggling with knee ligament injuries recently. With all those players doubtful for the weekend, it leaves Cheika in the unenviable position of possibly being without his entire first-choice front five against Edinburgh.

Leinster must at least match the points return of Wasps, who travel to play Castres.

O’Kelly will appear before an independent disciplinary committee in Dublin on Thursday which will be chaired by Rod McKenzie (Scotland) and will also include Jean-Etienne Bernard (France) and Robert Williams (Wales).

Meanwhile, Tom James, the Cardiff Blues winger, has also been cited for allegedly striking an opponent with his head during his side’s Heineken Cup clash with Gloucester last Sunday. He was sent off by Irish referee Alan Lewis.