Ronan Kelleher will miss Ireland’s November Series of four Test matches following a procedure on his ankle, after limping from the fray in Treviso last weekend.
However, Robbie Henshaw will begin full-time training in the expectation that the Leinster and Lions star might be available to face old side Connacht next Saturday.
Joe McCarthy, Jimmy O’Brien and Jordan Larmour were all ruled out of contention ahead of Saturday night’s sold-out Munster clash at Croke Park.
That means RG Snyman, the controversial Springbok switch, will start in an over-heated engine room against his former club.
“Joe picked up a niggle in the game last week, along with Jimmy O’Brien,” said Leinster Director of Rugby Leo Cullen.
“Ronan had a procedure on his ankle so he’ll be gone for, I don’t know, four to six weeks. The exact timeline… I’m not exactly sure on that, he only just got it done during the week.
“Robbie (Henshaw) is a little bit slower coming back in but we’re just managing guys with the niggles over the course of pre-season.
“So he will hopefully be introduced to full training next week and we will see as the week goes on. He is not a million miles away, he is up and running and everything.
“Jordan was gone from the previous week. He was due to feature, with a 5/3 split on the bench, but he picked up a niggle in training and hopefully he is not too bad.
“RG has been fantastic. As I touched on leading into last week, he picked up an injury that had ruled him out of the tail end of the Rugby Championship. We had got the benefit of that so having RG in the building, he has been brilliant.
“You have probably heard some of the other players and coaches talking about him as well.
“He got through 50 minutes at the weekend and that’s another positive step. He’ll share lineout calling with James Ryan. But yeah, the lads are warming to him now and hopefully he goes well tomorrow.
“And a bit of local insights that he has from his time with Munster which is great.
“It feels like a Play-Off game, doesn’t it? It’s amazing to be back here again.
“We had a great experience here last year, so to come back and see the interest in the game is phenomenal.”