Seán O’Brien will miss the
Six Nations
and possibly the remainder of the season following surgery this week on his dislocated shoulder.
O'Brien, who already sat out the defeat to Northampton in Dublin with another problem, sustained his latest injury 53 minutes into Saturday's 19-6 defeat of Ulster.
"They are going to go in there and fix it surgically but with no complications Seánie could get back and play some footie this year," said Leinster forwards coach Jonno Gibbs, who in the same breath emphasises his lack of knowledge on the subject of shoulder injuries.
O’Brien (26) has needed leg and hip surgery before this season when he only featured five times for Leinster and in three Tests for Ireland due to extended recovery time from the Lions tour and some minor injuries.
The usual recovery time after shoulder surgery is five to six months but Leinster are hopeful of seeing him for the business end of the current campaign.
Cian Healy, Rory Best, Tommy Bowe and Simon Zebo are in a race against time to return to play some part in the Six Nations.
Casualty list
Hooker is a major concern for Ireland coach Joe Schmidt as Richardt Strauss (heart surgery) and Munster's Mike Sherry (knee) are already on the long term casualty list.
Healy, following ankle surgery, will play no part in Leinster's Heineken Cup matches away to Castres on Sunday week and home to Ospreys the following Friday.
“Cian is going really well,” Gibbs added. “Really positive with him so far.”
Michael Bent is another injury concern but Jack O’Connell made his seasonal debut against Ulster last Saturday at loosehead prop. Jack McGrath will, in all likelihood, provide both club and country cover in the event Healy does not recover.
In Ulster, Johann Muller, Iain Henderson, Chris Henry and Nick Williams all returned to training ahead of Munster's visit to Ravenhill this Friday.
"A decision on whether they will feature against Munster will be taken later in the week," Ulster said in a statement.
"Luke Marshall, Andrew Trimble, Darren Cave and Rob Herring all suffered soft tissue injuries in the defeat to Leinster in the RDS on Saturday evening.
“All four are responding well to treatment and all four are expected to be available for selection.”
Muller was only rested for the Leinster defeat but Henry damaged his knee in the first half of last month’s Test match against Samoa while Henderson played no part in the November series.
Paddy Wallace’s return from long term cruciate problem has been disrupted by a new muscle tear in his leg that rules him out for three weeks.
Finally, Zebo, following a broken bone in his foot, could yet return for Munster against Gloucester in Kingsholm on January 11th.
