Leinster coach Joe Schmidt urges his team to maintain winning streak
Leinster coach Joe Scmhidt is keen for his team to continue their good form as they prepare to visit the Ospreys on Sunday 28 November.
Leinster have no injury worries ahead of the Magners League match and they will be eager to maintain their four-match winning run in the league, ahead of some crucial Heineken Cup games in December.
However, there was some bad news for the coach. Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald appear to have picked up serious injuries in the Test match with the All Blacks and both players are likely to miss matches for Leinster.
The duo would not have been available for the visit to the Ospreys in any case, as they are both on international duty until the end of November.
Speaking to the press, Schmidt said, “I’m not sure of how bad the injuries are with Ireland. We believe that Luke will be out for four to six weeks, so we’re hopeful that he’ll be available to us for at least the Clermont return fixture (in the Heineken
Cup on December 18th). I spoke to Rob today and we won’t know about him until Tuesday when they have a look around his knee.”
Leinster defeated the Dragons 27-6 in their last match and they will know that they will have to improve their performance if they are to beat the Ospreys, who are the defending Magners League Champions.
Both teams will be without their international contingent, and after poor starts to the season the two teams will be hoping that they can put some pressure on the top four.
Schmidt admitted that he is expecting a tough test and that his Leinster team will have to be wary about some of the Ospreys' talented young players.
“We’re expecting an even tougher test this weekend. They got a win against Connacht in the last minute which was obviously a pretty good performance considering Connacht weren’t too far from (being) full strength so for the Ospreys to have done that is a
very good effort. They’ve got some real talent in their young guys so they might add something that we don’t know so much about,” said Schmidt.
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