Fergus McFadden is ready to start against Saracens
If Irish captain Brian O’Driscoll fails to recover from a hamstring injury, Fergus McFadden may start Leinster’s Heineken Cup match against Saracens this weekend.
O’Driscoll picked up the injury during Leinster’s 38-22 win over Racing Metro in their first match in the Heineken Cup.
McFadden has found himself as the replacement to the first team partnership of Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy in the Leinster midfield.
“I’m used to it at this stage because Darce and Drico tend to have knocks a lot of the time,” said McFadden.
But McFadden is still not certain if he will replace O’Driscoll, who may still play.
The Irish centre said, “I came in on Monday knowing Brian was hurt, but he has made some miraculous recoveries in the past, so I am not going to take anything for granted.”
McFadden has had to fill in for D’Arcy on numerous occasions, but he acknowledges that the Leinster midfielders have overcome these injuries to retain their positions before.
This has been the case with Gordon D’Arcy, who has overcome a number of career-threatening injuries.
“We tend to call him Lazarus, as he seems to come back from the dead the whole time. In that Munster match, when he got that whack off [Lifeimi] Mafi, I was half wondering if he would be able to play again, but he got back up and was jumping around like
a gazelle.”
The centre is likely to get a rare run out in an important match, but McFadden realises that even though he is a talented centre, he is unlikely to replace two of the best midfielders in the game.
McFadden believes it may be time to move on. “After January or February, I will start to wonder what I’m going to do at the end of the year, if Leinster is going to be where my future [is] or what’s going to happen. I’ll see how the year goes.”
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