Interpros ‘defining part of our season’, says Leinster coach Fogarty

Leinster forwards coach John Fogarty has described the upcoming interpros as “a defining part of our season.”

The European Cup champions took another step towards defending their title with victory over Bath on Saturday, and now they turn their attention to their Guinness PRO14 crown with three games over the next fortnight.

It all kicks off with the visit of Connacht to the RDS on Saturday (7.45pm) followed by a sell-out clash with Munster in Thomond Park on December 29th (5.15pm) before hosting Ulster in Dublin on January 5th (5.15pm).

“The last two weeks have gone as well as we could have hoped in terms of results,” Fogarty told RTÉ Sport.

“You get so emotionally involved in that competition [Champions Cup].

“Now we must park it and turn our attention towards the three interprovincial games.

“It’s a defining part of our season and they are three huge games.”

Rob Kearney (dead leg) is set to return to training after missing the victory over Bath but Fergus McFadden (hamstring), Jack McGrath (hip), Sean O’Brien (arm), Joe Tomane (hamstring), Nick McCarthy (foot), Robbie Henshaw (hamstring) and Will Connors (ACL) are all ruled out for this weekend’s match against the high-flying westerners.

“When we come back to Europe, we want to be arriving back feeling strong mentally, feeling that the group has made it difficult for the coaches to select a team that will finish out the European pool stages,” said Fogarty. “These three weeks are huge.”

Rob Kearney: Set for a return to training.

And Fogarty has been keeping a close eye on Connacht in recent weeks as their revolution under Andy Friend picks up pace with every passing week.

Since Leinster defeated them at the Sportsground in late September, Connacht have only lost twice in eight games, away to Sale and Ospreys.

And Fogarty believes they deserve all the plaudits that are coming their way as they bounce back from a miserable 2017/2018 season.

“Andy Friend and the rest of the coaches have done an unbelievably good job,” Fogarty said.

“Their set-piece is strong, it’s one of the most destructive scrums in the competition. Their attacks tests you massively. They have guys in the team that can turn you over. They will have a lot of confidence coming into this week.

“It’s been interesting to see their selection over the past couple of weeks. They have changed up their team, so it would seem that they will be fully loaded coming to the RDS.”

Meanwhile Exeter scrum-half Stuart Townsend is likely to miss the rest of the season. The 23-year-old suffered what director of rugby Rob Baxter said was “a pretty serious knee injury” in the Champions Cup loss to Gloucester last week.

Townsend had been sharing scrum-half duties with Nic White after he suffered a foot injury earlier this campaign.

White is currently out for a few weeks with a recurrence of the foot injury, so Jack Maunder is set to start against Saracens on Saturday if fit.