Tommy O'Brien keen to build on injury-free run of games in blue and green

O'Brien's career was sentenced to the purgatory of successive injuries for far too many years. That has, finally, hopefully, changed with the 27-year-old profiting from a prolonged period of fitness and promptly making inroads with club and country.

Leinster's Tommy O'Brien scores a try. Pic: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

You can prepare as diligently as possible, eat right and sleep right, turn up for training and match days exploding with positive energy, but there isn’t much anyone can do if the sporting gods are of a mind to interfere.

Jordan Larmour was having a wonderful evening against Harlequins at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday night, scoring two tries before a hamstring injury prompted him to pound the turf and end his night with just minutes to go.