Johnny Sexton fit but Rob Kearney kept out with unspecified injury

Jonathan Sexton has been given the green light to face Bath today but Rob Kearney misses out with an unspecified injury which raises again the touchy subject of a player’s medical information.

All queries as to the nature of Kearney’s problem were met with an absence of answers by Leinster.

“He should be touch-and-go for next week, hopefully,” said head coach Leo Cullen. The question of medical and injury information has been clouded ever since Jamie Heaslip declined to share any such details for the year or so prior to his forced retirement.

Sexton came off after 75 minutes last weekend with what was quickly identified as a minor calf injury but he has trained towards the end of the week and starts alongside scrum-half Luke McGrath in this latest Pool One fixture.

“He’s good,” said Cullen.

Josh van der Flier and Tadhg Furlong sat out yesterday’s captain’s run at the Aviva Stadium. Cullen described this as more or less routine and an attempt merely to manage the players’ loads at an intense period.

The champions have made just a handful of changes to the side that overcame Bath seven days ago The Recreation Ground. Adam Byrne comes onto the wing in a move which sees Jordan Larmour shift to 15 in place of Kearney. Jack Conan comes in at No.8 while Dan Leavy moves to the blindside.

“For the most part, we’ve kept it pretty similar and hopefully we’ll be able to build on some of the good things that we produced last week,” said Cullen. “But there were plenty of parts of the performance that probably frustrated us. Bath played well, they are very strong and physical.

“Overall, we try to have a bit more cohesion in selection. There are lots of moving parts so it can be a tricky challenge for us at this time of year. We were pleased to get a win at Bath, that was the most important thing.”

The absences of Kearney, Robbie Henshaw and Sean O’Brien dilute the side’s aura to an extent, particularly on a bench which is again lighter than usual on dazzle and potential impact, but the focus here will be on that rejigged back row. Sam Underhill and Francois Louw created havoc for Leinster at the breakdown a week ago and Bath coach Todd Blackadder has followed up on his commitment to travel over fully locked and loaded by naming a strong side in which both of those forwards will feature.