Leinster boss Leo Cullen plays cool on Robbie Henshaw

Leinster are due to announce a raft of newly-minted players contracts at some point this week, possibly as early as today, but there was no word yesterday as to whether Robbie Henshaw’s name would be among them.

A second batch of updated contracts will be released towards the end of the season.

Such is the way the province goes about this aspect of its business though it is impossible to say that confirmation on Henshaw’s arrival in Dublin would not be ratified by other sources by then.

The 22-year old’s summer departure from Connacht was officially confirmed by the province on Sunday.

Anthony Foley has already confirmed that Munster will not be his destination and Leinster have always been tagged as his next team.

Yet the club’s head coach Leo Cullen refused to be drawn on what is an odd situation with reports that the player has signed a central IRFU contract contrasting with others that say Henshaw has made up his mind but has yet to put pen to paper.

Ultimately, it is up to him to choose which province he plays for. IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora confirmed as much before Christmas.

So did Cullen yesterday.

“Yeah, that’s the player’s choice,” he agreed when asked about the general rule of thumb.

Cullen has been asked about Henshaw the player before and he was as complimentary as ever again yesterday in describing him as “one of the bright lights at the moment with Ireland” and his arrival would be timely given Ben Te’o departs for Worcester Warriors at the season’s end.

That leaves a big hole to fill in Leinster’s midfield.

“Yeah, we have some good young players coming through as well so we’ve got some other guys there. We lost some players already. We’ve been working away behind the scenes trying to renew guys’ deals as well,” he said.

“There is always plenty of strands to these deals and building a squad. We are not trying to rely on any one individual. We are trying to build that depth.

“We’ve used 54 players already this year. Hopefully that will stand us in good stead going forward.”

Henshaw was impressive against France in Ireland’s Six Nations defeat in Paris last weekend, although the loss came at a price greater than just the two points lost with a number of injuries weakening an already affected squad.

Leinster players were prominent amongst the casualties with Dave Kearney, Mike McCarthy, Sean O’Brien and Jonathan Sexton all being forced from the field with injury.

Cullen insisted injuries were just part and parcel of the game when quizzed about Sexton’s lengthening injury profile and he also played down concerns over the welfare of others, such as O’Brien, who have been succumbing regularly to various problems.

“Johnny’s in a position where there’s a lot of traffic coming down that 10 channel so he’s exposed a bit there,” he said.

“Seany, sometimes you can just get caught on a run or cycle and it can be hard to get out of.

“They’re all quality players so hopefully it’ll turn around for them.”