Season over for luckless van der Flier

Josh van der Flier’s season looks to be over after confirmation that the Leinster and Ireland flanker has had surgery on a groin injury and will miss the next 12 weeks.

The luckless Dubliner suffered the injury during the recent Six Nations clash against France and it is a case of deja vu given his season came to an abrupt halt last time around with a cruciate ligament injury suffered against the same opposition in Paris.

Leinster have also confirmed that Robbie Henshaw is unlikely to feature in this week’s Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final against Ulster at the Aviva Stadium. The centre suffered what was listed as a dead leg after the opening Six Nations game at home to England in early February and is still being assessed as he builds his training load.

Among those to be “further assessed” as the week goes on is Ross Byrne who was withdrawn from the side to face Edinburgh in the Guinness PRO14 last weekend with a tightness in his foot.

Sean Cronin is following return-to-play protocols after being removed from the Edinburgh game with a head injury. Joe Tomane, Luke McGrath, Dan Leavy and Nick McCarthy all came through the tie in Edinburgh without problems and are available for the European Champions Cup this Saturday evening against Ulster.