Leinster pay a heavy toll for victory

LEINSTER face an anxious 48 hours waiting on the medical fallout from a bruising Magners League semi-final win over Ulster in Dublin that saw Brian O’Driscoll hobble out of action at half-time.

Leinster earned their place in the Magners League Grand Final on May 28 against either Munster of the Ospreys, who meet at Thomond Park this evening, but their progress may cost them the services of talismanic Ireland captain O’Driscoll, one of a number of players from the province who will undergo scans over the weekend to determine the extent of their injuries.

With the Heineken Cup final against Northampton Saints looming a week today in Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, the sight of O’Driscoll retreating to the dressing room having taken a bang on his right knee just before the interval will have been the last thing coach Joe Schmidt would have wished for from this Magners League semi-final at the RDS last night.