Although Jamie Heaslip has not been registered in Leinster's initial squad for the European Champions Cup, Leo Cullen stressed on Thursday that their 100-times capped Irish international can be registered during the group stages, albeit another player would have to be de-listed to make way for him.
"To give you an example, Ross Byrne wasn't in the original squad last year but he played rounds three, four, five and six, so that would be an example of something we did last year. There's a few guys obviously nothing the mix but we can add guys as we go," said Cullen.
The EPCR Participation Agreement entitles each club to make up to two such player exchanges, plus any front-row swaps, during the pool stages. That said, Cullen could shed little light on when Heaslip might be fit to make a return.
Cullen recalled a similar long-standing problem of his own. “I remember I was picked in a team, so similar to what happened to Jamie, and it was the day before the game, it was at home, and I think I traced it back to an exercise I did in the gym earlier in the week.”
Lying down at his own home while watching rugby, the stiffness in his back gradually worsened.
"I remember ringing Arthur Tanner, who was our doctor who has now passed away, and I rang him on the Sunday morning of the game and said, 'Arthur, I can barely move my back here', and that's how suddenly it had come on for me'."
“I didn’t have surgery on it, and I still feel the effects of it now - and that was back in 2005. They’re tricky injuries. So apologies for vagueness, but it’s very difficult for us to give definitive answers on an injury that is grey.”
“It’s a difficult time for Jamie because of that uncertainty, so that’s the way it’s going to be unfortunately. We would have loved to have seen Jamie maybe back now. We thought originally the surgery would be straightforward. That’s what we would have hoped for, but it hasn’t been as straightforward as we would have liked.”
Cullen described Heaslip’s injury as “a disc problem in his back”, and while he was entirely confident that Heaslip will return at some point, he couldn’t say if that would even be this side of Christmas.
“I’m not so sure. I’m not sure. It will depend if he has to go for another procedure or not. Okay so, he has to weight that up with the surgeon and the specialist that he’s seeing. That will be the decision he’ll have to come to himself and with the help of the medics as well.”
