THE FALL-OUT FROM Ireland’s 22-15 defeat to Italy in Rome has brought bad news to Leinster Rugby as the province today confirmed Luke Fitzgerald would miss the rest of the reason.
Fitzgerald, who has produced steadily improving form since returning from a lengthy injury lay-off last year, ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) shortly after replacing the injured Keith Earls in Rome.
A statement from the province today says Fitzgerald will undergo surgery on the problem as soon as the swelling dies down.
With the in-form Glasgow Warriors arriving at the RDS this Saturday, head coach Joe Schmidt would have hoped to have all hands on deck for the run-in of the competition which has proved agonisingly elusive over the past three years.
Jordan Coghlan, injured in last week’s defeat to Munster A, will be out for ‘a number of weeks’ with an ankle injury.
However, there is some good news in the form of the Gordon D’Arcy who is close to recovering from a stress fracture in his foot and should be available to face Ulster on March 30 if he is not ready in time to face the Warriors.
Second row Quinn Roux, who also played in the loss to Munster in UL last Tuesday, is back in contention after missing four months with a shoulder complaint, as are the experienced trio Isa Nacewa, Heinke van der Merwe and Kevin McLaughlin.
