Jordie Barrett lands in Dublin this week with mischievous Leo Cullen hinting he may be on bench in Belfast on Friday night
“We will see how he looks, his injury is not too bad.," says Blues boss Leo Cullen
Leinster will be sky-watching tonight, today and tomorrow - waiting for Jordie Barrett to land at Dublin Airport.
Leo Cullen expects his All Black signing at training on Thursday and, grinning, doesn't rule the player out of Friday night's clash at Ulster.
The subtle nudge is that with Robbie Henshaw, Garry Ringrose, Jamie Osbourne and Ciaran Frawley on Ireland duty the centre could be asked to sit on the bench.
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Barrett last saw action against France in Paris the weekend before last but was subbed following sustaining a knock to the knee after 36 minutes. He remained in All Black camp last week but did not feature against Italy.
Said Cullen: “He’s in this week, he’s making his way from wherever he is in Europe at the moment. Some final bits he had to tie off with the NZRU.
“We will see how he looks. his injury is not too bad. ”
“He was a little nervous but he had a scan so that’s what we want, get him in the door and let's see how he looks running around. Friday is probably a bit close, we’ll see. He’s a chance, there is hope for us all
As it stands Leinster will be forced to work off heavy rotation for the game with Ulster at Kingspan Stadium on Friday albeit with Jack Conan, returning from injury, likely to skipper the side leaving Luke McGrath as the senior player among the backs.
Hookers Lee Barron and John McKee both return from injury as do back-three Ireland internationals Jimmy O'Brien and Jordan Larmour.
Moreover, there is a sense of mission about the Blues with coach Cullen noting they lost both league-proper encounters - something he says affected their seeding in the play-offs.
"If you think back, we lost both games during the regular season and at the end of last season we were up there and lost the game.
"Those two losses if you think where you look at the league table at the end, if you could take one of those wins, then you're not traveling away to South Africa.
But that's Ulster we know what it means to them they have guys that know us well in their ranks and it's a huge game for them so making sure that we understand, that we respect that, and we're able to give a proper version of ourselves and I think you will see two teams that are fully committed going at it which is what you see in this fixture all the time."
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Richie Murphy has prospered since being appointed towards the back end of last season.
Continued Cullen: "Richie has gone well, he will have been biding his time for this opportunity. He has done some amazing things with the Ireland U20s, particularly with our younger lads so that poses some challenges as well.
"But regardless I think you're just going to have two sets of players that will be fighting tooth and nail in a derby, which is what I think people want to see."
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