IRFU ruling will open door to Drico’s Irish understudies

Leinster will not be allowed to sign a replacement from overseas if Brian O’Driscoll retires at the end of the season.

Munster’s procurement of Casey Laulala last summer means that the IRFU will not permit the European champions to sign a non-Irish qualified player to wear the No 13 jersey if the former Ireland captain hangs up his boots after the Lions tour. The news means that homegrown players like Fergus McFadden, Brendan Macken and Eoin O’Malley will do battle with Luke Fitzgerald for the shirt when O’Driscoll calls it a day.

Understandably, Leinster want the 34-year-old to commit for another year, but manager Guy Easterby says that decision rests with the player.

“From our point of view he has still got a lot to offer,” Easterby said of his former teammate whose wife Amy Huberman gave birth to their first child on Sunday. “He will know himself, he has had a new baby so God knows how that is going to affect his life. He has got some big decisions to make and he is very capable of making them on his own. He is certainly one we would look to have around.”

Asked if O’Driscoll’s delayed decision was preventing them from signing a replacement, Easterby said: “It is not like we are going to go outside of Irish players. We can’t just contract foreign players,” he said.

“If you were waiting on a foreign player for a spot and they needed to know then maybe. Luckily this time we haven’t got that sort of time pressure on. It is about making the right decision and us being happy.

“Brian was never going to go on for ever. I don’t think we would be allowed get in a world class centre because of Casey Laulala down in Munster covering the position.

“Eoin O’Malley came back at the weekend, he was our 50th player in the Rabo this season and Brendan Macken has had a lot of game time and he is beginning to show signs of improvement.

“Replacing Brian with another Brian is impossible. It is something we are aware of and we just have to get on with that and deal with it.”

Joe Schmidt is casting the net wider to replace Jonathan Sexton, but Easterby revealed that the late notice of the fly-half’s impending departure to Racing Metro has left them with little time to find an adequate replacement.

“It is quite late in the day to be looking, not ideal,” he said. “There is one or two names, we are not just going to sign someone for the sake of it.”

Meanwhile, there was no news on a new deal for Fitzgerald or Leo Cullen, but back-row Jordi Murphy will be at Leinster next season after agreeing a new deal.

Leinster take on Treviso this week and are likely to welcome a number of their internationals back into the fold. Eoin Reddan, McFadden, Rhys Ruddock, Fitzgerald and Sean Cronin trained in UCD yesterday and could feature. Isa Nacewa will miss out with a recurrence of his arm injury, however, while Fionn Carr and Heinke van der Merwe should return.