O’Brien: I may be stuck on the bench

Sean O’Brien yesterday launched a game for mobile phones which involves him storming through the streets of Dublin and sending any taxis and buses unfortunate enough to be in his path flying like skittles.

The idea to use O’Brien for the Street Rugby app was hardly a reach with a man whose nickname is the Tullow Tank and yet the Leinster and Ireland flanker is a good deal more delicate than his virtual alter ego would suggest.

He picked up bad bruising on a knee during last week’s Amlin Challenge Cup final defeat of Stade Francais and won’t know for sure if he can play tomorrow’s RaboDirect Pro12 decider against Ulster until a run-through at the RDS this morning.

Were this any other year, he would risk the joint regardless. But this is no ordinary year. A ticket to Hong Kong, paid for by the British and Irish Lions, awaits him on Sunday and he admits another bang on the sore spot could leave his tour in ruins.

“It’s going to be tight,” he said of tomorrow’s game. “That’s being honest. At the start of the week it was looking a little bit dodgy but then, come Monday evening, I was feeling very good again. I was feeling loose. If the next 24 hours are really good, it will be touch and go, I think.

“The fact is if I get another slap on the same spot where the bone bruising is it might hinder my chances of playing in the first couple of games on tour. That’s the risk and the danger. They’re going to assess it again [today] and see what happens.”

Adding to the frustration is the fact he feels fine. There is no pain, no jarring when he walks, but he knows players who have been out for months with bruised bones and even the most innocuous bang could send him to the casualty ward for six to seven weeks.

At this stage, it will be a shock if O’Brien suits up against Ulster. Leinster assistant coach Jono Gibbes has admitted he is “unlikely” to feature which all but brings to an end a week which started with crossed wires on the player’s availability between the province and the Lions.

The optics of it all didn’t look good.

“There was a bit of confusion probably between both camps. The Lions wanted to have a look at me and when I got out to them they thought differently about it. It was probably just a breakdown in communication. I think that got sorted out very quickly.”

His trips to Kildare to see the Lions physios were, at least, an opportunity to experience the building fervour over the legendary touring party which has spent the week in Carton House while he and the other Leinster Lions met the rest of the four-nations squad for dinner in Dublin as well.

O’Brien and their long-term injuries aside, Leinster have reported no other injury concerns aside from O’Brien and their long-term absentees with Brian O’Driscoll, Fergus McFadden and Richardt Strauss all good to go.