Leinster head coach Leo Cullen is confident Ciarán Frawley still has a big part to play for the province this season despite Monday’s news that he will be ruled out for a number of months with a twisted knee.
Having been marked absent from the recent Emerging Ireland tour of South Africa with a shoulder injury, the Skerries native was selected at outhalf for Ireland ‘A’ against an All Blacks XV in the RDS at the beginning of this month. This game was seen as the precursor for his eventual international test debut - most likely last weekend against Fiji - but Frawley was forced off with 47 minutes gone on the clock in that 47-19 defeat.
As well as missing out on the entire Autumn Nations Series, Frawley will also be sidelined for a busy block of provincial fixtures either side of the holiday season - including home and away bouts against Racing 92 and Gloucester in the European Champions Cup.
“It’s the unfortunate nature of the game. Hopefully we get him back in a reasonable time. We have a big block of games coming up here, once the November internationals finish up this weekend against Australia. Ciarán will miss the bulk of that, all of it probably,” explained Cullen, who expects to be without Frawley for a period of between three and four months.
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“Then you are into the Six Nations and the last block of the season. The last block of the season is where the real business happens in provincial and club rugby so hopefully it falls and he’ll be back by then.
“For him, it’s just to get the procedure done [he is due to have surgery on Tuesday] and move on to the next thing quite quickly. We try to push the players as much as we can that they have some interest outside the game as well. Because it definitely helps in these moments when you have some time on your hands.”
While he is an option in the number 10 and 15 jerseys, Frawley has featured most prominently at inside centre since first making his Leinster bow in February 2018. Cullen could find himself light in this position over the next few weeks after Robbie Henshaw injured his hamstring just five minutes into Ireland’s 35-17 win over Fiji at the Aviva Stadium last Saturday.
Cullen is still waiting on news of how long it will take the Westmeath man to regain full fitness, but this Friday’s friendly against Chile at Energia Park (kick-off 2pm) does give several fringe players an opportunity to stake their claim for a competitive match day spot.
“I don’t know is the honest answer with Robbie. We have been busy here preparing, we have Chile on Friday. I bumped into Robbie briefly this morning so we haven’t really had a proper discussion with him or about him. This week, we have a mixed group here which is great. A lot of young academy players, some senior players and some guys from club rugby as well,” Cullen added.
