Easterby confident O'Driscoll will play in internationals

Leinster management remain confident that Brian O'Driscoll will line up for Ireland in the upcoming internationals and that Richardt Strauss will be able to make a full recovery from recent surgery.

Fresh off the Heineken Cup win over Castres, the outlook on injuries was good yesterday with the province reporting a clean bill of health.

The news on Brian O’Driscoll remains unclear. The former Irish captain may face yet another week out of action with a calf injury he picked up while playing against Cardiff on September 27.

That game against the Welsh side was Brian’s first of the season and now there is a big question mark about him seeing any game time for the November internationals against Samoa, New Zealand and Australia.

Leinster team manager Guy Easterby though remains confident of O’Driscoll’s ability to recover in time.

He said: "Obviously he has a calf injury and you have to be careful with those, you certainly don't want to redo the injury.

"Brian knows his body better than anyone. He is a veteran athlete in terms of his age but he has got a fantastic feel for his own body.

"He is excellent at managing himself and he certainly won't be putting himself under any risk, but I don't think there will be any issue at all for the autumn games."

Strauss's heart surgery last week has been deemed a success, but Easterby says he won’t be rushed back and insists the signs are good.

Easterby said: "The good news is that Richardt had his operation a few days ago, a week ago today.

"That was a success and he has a recovery time now. They are confident that everything went well and that he will be back playing sometime in the future.

"They are generally not sure (about a return date), it is months rather than weeks because of some of the recovery he has to go through.

"We are told he will have no issue at all playing again, which is fantastic. You can never say 100% but it is 99.9%. We won't be rushing him, put it that way.”

Leinster are this week preparing to host Connacht in an inter-provincial derby this weekend in the Rabo Direct Pro 12 at the RDS.