As frontliners drop like flies and a seemingly never-ending supply of young pretenders fill the gaps in accomplished fashion, the Leinster academy is once more the envy of Europe.
Ross Byrne, Adam Byrne and Rory O’Loughlin all played pivotal role in commanding win over Northampton last weekend and will be called on again as the province cope with a slew of injuries over the busy festive stretch.
Leo Cullen may boast an embarrassment of riches but, elsewhere in the English midlands, another Leinster academy product was making his mark in Round 3 of the Champions Cup.
When Cian Kelleher walked away from a one-year development contract at the RDS last summer to sign full terms with Connacht, Leinster were not impressed.
Having already represented Emerging Ireland in the Tbilisi Cup, Kelleher was frustrated to find himself behind Zane Kirchner in the pecking order and limited to just one start and five replacement appearances for his home province.
In the Ricoh Arena on Sunday, Kelleher showed – even in defeat – what a coup Connacht pulled off. The Westerners went down 32-17 to Wasps in Pool 2 but, as highlighted by the Irish Times, Kelleher put on an exhibition of wing play on the left flank.
Up against England international Christian Wade, Kelleher featured near the top of the Champions Cup Round 3 charts in carries (38), metres gained (288), clean breaks (7) and defenders beaten (15).
Wasps may not be as defensively minded as the fellow Premiership challengers Saracens, Leicester or Bath, but for the 22-year-old to be mixing it with the likes of Wesley Fofana and David Smith in attacking statistics like these is seriously impressive.
Likely to miss the return match in Galway with a hamstring injury, Connacht will miss Kelleher.
Just maybe not as much as Leinster.
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