Leinster duo to play in effort to gain Ireland start

Eoin Reddan and Luke Fitzgerald could be in line to start for Leinster on Friday night in the Rabo Direct Pro 12.

The province clash with Newport Gwent Dragons at the RDS and will be looking to keep alive their hopes of a League home semi-final with experienced international players away with the Irish camp.

Reddan and Fitzgerald who were named in Joe Schmidt's Ireland squad have been injured and missed the two Six Nations matches already played.

Both men had been making a recovery and Schmidt released them back to Leinster to get some game time before the next round of Six Nations games against England, Italy and France.

Commenting today after training, Leinster coach, Matt O'Connor said they were looking good for selection.

O'Connor said: "They trained today so the medical team is pretty positive that they will be able to play some part in the game."

"What role they play, we will have to wait and see but they have pushed through those soft tissue issues and look okay."

Another player looking to get more game time under his belt is Fergus McFadden.

McFadden suffered a broken hand in the November International loss to Australia at the Aviva Stadium.

He made a comeback while playing for the Irish Wolfhounds before the start of the Six Nations and he knows he needs more game time before he can realistically set his sights on returning to the Ireland fold.

"For me it's about getting more game time, apart from the eighty minutes I played for the Wolfhounds and combined twenty seven minutes I had for Scotland and Wales, I need a bit more and hopefully I can get that this week." McFadden said.

Matt O'Connor is no stranger to working with limited resources.

From his time with the Leicester Tigers, he had to be content to losing players to the England set-up all the time, but not quite as many as he's experiencing now.

Matt knows these next few matches are crucial in Leinster's bid to retain the Pro 12 title.

"We have had a few guys who have been fortunate enough to be in the Irish set-up certainly this season, but it's an opportunity for the other guys, it provides them with a bit of focus and something to

concentrate on."

"They can look at this test window really positively and they know how important it is for the squad and the team to be really successful in this period." O Connor said.