Rob Kearney’s knee injury could be worse than first feared

Great folk as they surely are, Rob Kearney must be sick of seeing the Sports Surgery Clinic staff.

The Leinster and Ireland fullback was over in Santry, on Monday morning, for a scan on a knee he injured in the 33-25 loss to Glasgow Warriors at the weekend. Leinster scrum coach John Fogarty confirmed, by Monday afternoon, that Kearney would miss the weekend trip to Edinburgh. Full results from the scan are due and Kearney may require another when the swelling goes down further. Fogarty said he did not expect the knee injury to be a long-term concern. However, SportsJOE understands that Kearney may be out for a considerable length of time. His participation in October's Champions Cup games is rated as "touch and go". That may yet impact on his chances of reclaiming the Ireland 15 jersey in November. While Kearney's recent injury travails have been hamstring related, he has had previous with knee injuries. In 2010, he injured it in a November Test against New Zealand and missed the remainder of the season. He returned in time for the 2011 World Cup but did admit to fretting about it for is first few games back. After the first game on the 2016/17 season, Kearney reflected on the stop-start season before. He told us:

"I've trained pretty well and had a great pre-season. I worked hard and got my body in, touch wood, hopefully a good place."

He touched wood but it did no good. Kearney scored a fantastic try against Warriors before twisting his knee on Scotoun's all-weather surface and going off, after 59 minutes. In better news for the region, Jamie Heaslip, Sean Cronin, Jack McGrath and Devin Toner are all available to head coach Leo Cullen for the Edinburgh game. Sean O'Brien's return is said to be close but it will be another couple of weeks before we see Johnny Sexton in Leinster blue. The GAA Hour took their show on the road to Castlebar to preview the All-Ireland final with Colm Parkinson, James Horan and some very special guests. Listen below or subscribe here on iTunes.