Macken knows he has his work cut out to retain spot

It can’t be easy filling in for arguably the greatest Irish player of a generation but Brendan Macken has not done a bad job covering for Brian O’Driscoll this past fortnight.

Macken, playing in his fourth season for Leinster, has bided his time and put in two solid shifts in the Leinster shirt in recent weeks.

Eoin O’Malley’s unfortunate retirement in August pushed the hard-running centre up the pecking order and when O’Driscoll suffered a calf tear at the end of September, it seemed Macken would finally get his big chance. However, Matt O’Connor was still not convinced Macken was ready and called for the veteran Lote Tuqiri from the Wests Tigers rugby league club in Sydney to come over to Leinster on short-term cover.