Van der Linde out of Murrayfield showdown

LEINSTER’S World Cup winning prop CJ van der Linde has been ruled out of this month’s Heineken Cup final against Leicester Tigers at Murrayfield.

The former Springbok has seen his first season in Dublin severely curtailed by a persistent toe injury which ruled him out of last weekend’s win over Munster and coach Micheal Cheika confirmed the bad news yesterday.

“We have decided to just get him right and ready for next season. We made a plan and we tried to get him back for the semi-final, so we knew that the day when he went into light work would be the test for him.

“He survived most of it right until the last scrum when he did the injury and, although it wasn’t that bad, it meant that he wasn’t ready. At that point we decided to shut up shop and get him right for next year.”

Leinster have been fortunate that Cian Healy’s emergence from being a bit-part player into one who is now being talked about as a starter for his country has coincided with the South African’s injury travails.

Said Cheika: “Cian (Healy) has played really well, which doesn’t make things easier because you want all of your quality players on board, but I would say that if CJ was fit, Cian would be right up there fighting for a place. Stan (Wright) has also done very well since he came over.”

Another player who won’t be on duty in Edinburgh on May 23rd is Felipe Contepomi who has played his last game for the province after picking up a serious knee injury during the first-half of last weekend’s game in Croke Park.

Cheika was effusive in his praise for the Argentinian, who will move to French club Toulon next season. “Felipe is very positive around us, but privately he’ll be aching. He gets a few days off where he then has to do a certain amount of rehab.

“He has already been incorporated into the coaching staff for the next few weeks, helping us with our preparations because he’s usually very accurate with that kind of thing. Injury is the nature of sport unfortunately.

“As much as players like to categorise him as a brilliant player, he’s the ultimate team player and if you were to ask any of his team-mates then they would say the same. From the team’s point of view, we’re probably more disappointed than he is for himself.”

Leinster have two Magners League games to negotiate between now and Edinburgh. The first of those comes against the Scarlets at the RDS tomorrow night and Cheika will, naturally, be taking few risks with his personnel.

Rocky Elsom has been omitted from the squad having strained a knee in the Munster tie while Rob Kearney, though included, will probably have to wait until the following week to make his return from the bout of mumps that sidelined him last Saturday.

Leinster squad (v Scarlets):

Forwards: C Healy, R McCormack, J Fogarty, B Jackman, S Wright, L Cullen, T Hogan, M O’Kelly, D Toner, Stephen Keogh, S Jennings, S O’Brien, J Heaslip.

Backs: Simon Keogh, C Whitaker, J Sexton, L Fitzgerald, G D’Arcy, F McFadden, B O’Driscoll, S Horgan, I Nacewa, G Dempsey, R Kearney.