Conan 'bullish' as Leinster give update on injuries against Toulon

Murray Kinsella Reports from the Aviva Stadium

LEINSTER HAVE GIVEN an optimistic update on the injuries they sustained during their 29-25 Champions Cup semi-final win over Toulon.

Inside centre Robbie Henshaw was carted off early in the game after suffering a nasty-looking head injury, while back row Jack Conan limped off in pain in the second half.

Openside flanker Josh van der Flier also departed after a head injury, while right wing Tommy O’Brien was replaced in the second half too.

But head coach Leo Cullen provided an encouraging update on the injured quartet post-match at the Aviva Stadium. 

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“Robbie and Josh got two head knocks,” said Cullen.

“They’ll go through the graduated return-to-play (protocols) as standard. The two of them are OK there now. Listen, we’ll get them checked out and make sure everything is OK.

“Jack obviously hobbled off with his knee. He’s pretty bullish in there, saying he’s fine. Again, we’ll get him checked.

“Tommy went off as well. I think he’s cramping is what’s going on there. That’s the majority of it, I think.”

Cullen said scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park was also feeling the effects of close attention from Toulon.

“Jamo (Gibson-Park) shipped a couple of knocks. You could see they were targeting him right from the very start of the game but Jamison is made of tough stuff. He managed himself through the game.

“Generally, I think the lads are not bad. A game of this magnitude, everyone has thrown themselves into the contact area. Nobody is leaving anything out there. It’s all out there.”

Leinster did an impressive job of building a 29-11 lead over Toulon with 13 minutes remaining in the game, but the French side then launched an exciting comeback effort.

The visitors scored two tries and threatened to break Leinster’s hearts in the closing minutes, but the home team hung on to win.

“It’s great, it’s what you want from a game at this stage of the competition,” said Cullen.

“Credit to the lads for getting the job done. They’re making it a bit more stressful than we would like, as coaches and supporters, but it sort of adds to the intrigue as well.”