Sean O’Brien’s three-year deal boosts Leinster

There was no fluttering of eyelids to foreign suitors this time.

Or, if there was, then Sean O’Brien did it far more discreetly than two years ago when he was a guest of Toulon’s at their Heineken Cup clash against Cardiff in Nice. The news yesterday confirmed that the flanker has penned a new three-year deal with the IRFU to keep him at Leinster.

It’s a rare slice of good news for the province in the wake of their historically early Champions Cup elimination at the weekend with defeat to, as it happens, Toulon in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium chalking up their fourth successive loss in the tournament.