Fitzgerald ponders Leinster future as IRFU contract ends

Luke Fitzgerald is considering his future in Irish rugby after failing to nail down an IRFU national contract yesterday.

It is believed Fitzgerald, a member of the 2009 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa, had previously been approached by overseas clubs. However, he could be out until after Christmas after undergoing neck surgery.

Fitzgerald’s dilemma was revealed yesterday when Leinster chief executive Mick Dawson confirmed the Heineken Cup champions were desperately keen to keep the player in Dublin.

“His contract was up. I am led to believe the operation has gone very well. He has a 26 to 32-week rehab period and we have a duty of care to make sure that goes right and hopefully he will be working with us and getting ready for action again.

“Luke has been with us since he was 18. He’s 24 now and we would hope he will be with us for a lot longer. He has been a fantastic player and will be a fantastic player. We’re acutely aware of that and we want to be able to nurse him through this injury and hopefully get him back playing for Leinster and Ireland early in 2013.”

Dawson was not prepared to second-guess what had gone on between Fitzgerald and the IRFU but suggested it had nothing to do with the possible desire of the player to nail down a specific place rather than being used as a utility player.

“We just want Luke in our squad and we can let Luke and Joe Schmidt work the rest out. We are in discussions with his agent [Fintan Drury] and we would be disappointed if it’s not sorted out sooner rather than later.”

Meanwhile, Leinster are finding it difficult to secure a suitable overseas second row for next year and Dawson admitted pressure might be coming on players from the Australia, New Zealand and South Africa Unions to stay at home.

“That’s understandable, so the search is on. We have made approaches to a few people. Some guys were keen but the South African Union [particularly] is putting a lot of pressure on their players.”

As for the possibility of Brad Thorn returning, Dawson couldn’t say other than to confirm the New Zealander was in contract in Japan.

“We would hope to have something permanent in place because you can’t hope to get to that stage where you have a slot available for him. Having said that, if we were short second rows and he was available again then it’s something we would look at.”