Fergus McFadden will not be available for Leinster this weekend against Harlequins and will be out of rugby for up to six weeks. The Leinster back injured his thumb last week and underwent surgery on Tuesday.

There was good news for Luke Fitzgerald, who is available for selection for Leinster’s match in The Stoop.

“Unfortunately Fergus McFadden picked up a thumb injury and had some surgery to repair ligaments and will be out for between four and six weeks,” said Leinster coach Matt O’Connor. “The rest of the lads post came pulled up pretty well and trained well.”

“Fergus had the surgery on his thumb on Tuesday. Post training he was a little bit sore and we scanned it. I’m disappointed for him... coming back from an ankle injury.

“He played quite well the other night and would have been in the panel. He’s incredibly frustrated with the injury run he’s had over the last little while. But he’ll be back.”

O’Connor added that Marty Moore, Sean O’Brien and Cian Healy are doing well in coming back from their injuries and that it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they will feature in rounds five and six of the competition, particularly the two props, Healy and Moore.

“Luke (Fitzgerald) has trained,” said O’Connor. “He spent 10 days doing intensive rehab post Treviso. Fingers crossed he’ll be involved. He’s fit for selection.”

Rob Kearney also trained with the team. Social media had him out of the game but O’Connor said that his fullback and his utility back Ian Madigan should be okay. Madigan has had to nurse an ankle injury.

“He trained well today,” said O’Connor of Kearney. “He’s fit and certainly stuck his hand up. Ian Madigan trained today as well. He’s worked hard on his ankle and we’re confident that he will be available too.”