As he prepares to make his long-awaited return to competitive action against Benetton Treviso on Sunday, Leinster winger Dave Kearney admits that the past four months have been very frustrating for him.

The Louth man’s most recent provincial appearance was in the away win against Cardiff Blues on October 1st of last year, and after initially hearing that he would have a short lay-off, Kearney explained how he discovered his injury was more severe than he initially realised.

“It has been very frustrating. It’s 16 weeks now. It was from the astro in Cardiff. I just felt something nip off my ankle. I strapped it up at half-time and tried to run, but just couldn’t really,” Kearney said in UCD yesterday.

“I got a scan, and we thought it was two to four weeks. Eventually we found out that there was just a little chip off my bone that was catching my ligament. Unfortunately we couldn’t see that in the scan. Then eventually I went under the knife to get that out.”

Opportunities

In Kearney’s absence, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen offered opportunities to Adam Byrne and Rory O’Loughlin to stake their claim for selection. Both players have been regular starters for the province in recent months.

Kearney said Byrne and O’Loughlin had been extremely impressive and was able to draw parallels with his own elevation from the Leinster Academy up to the senior ranks.

“The two wingers have done a great job and really put their hands up. I suppose it’s no different when I came in here as a young lad. You’re competing with the older lads,” he said.

“ As you move up the ladder and get a bit older, you start to compete with the younger lads. It just goes in those circles and that’s just the way it is.”

Kearney is available for selection on Sunday alongside fit-again international trio Joey Carbery, Mike Ross and Fergus McFadden, but Leinster backs coach Girvan Dempsey confirmed that Rhys Ruddock was currently out of action with a torn quad injury.

“It’s not significant [Ruddock’s injury]. It’s a slight tear on his quad. He’s doing rehab at the moment, he’s doing a good bit of work,” Dempsey said yesterday.

“It’s something that he has just picked up a couple of weeks ago. He’s been fortunate enough that we’ve had that time off, and he’s had that opportunity to work through it. He’s out this weekend.”