Leinster debut for Douglas due this weekend
Leinster will aim to hand a debut to new signing Kane Douglas this weekend.
Douglas, who arrives to the Guinness Pro 12 Champions after playing his part in the Waratahs' successful season, has been in Dublin since last Friday.
After falling to Connacht at the Sportsground in Galway last Friday, Leinster welcome Cardiff Blues to the RDS this week looking to bounce back.
Douglas took a light part in today’s training session with the present members of the squad, rather than in Carton House with the national team.
Head coach Matt O’Connor believes the 25-year-old Australian will be ready to tog out at the RDS.
“He’s had a couple of weeks off which is great, off the back of playing a hell of a lot of minutes in the Super Rugby campaign that New South Wales won,” O’Connor said.
“He’s fresh, really eager to get involved and at this stage he will be involved at the weekend.”
Leo Cullen's decision to retire last season and join the coaching staff left O’Connor without a quality second row.
Douglas, who played all three tests for Australia against the British and Irish Lions, will be one of the most welcome additions to the squad in his time.
“The feeling was that with Leo’s retirement, there was a void there in relation to an out an out world-class lock.”
“We’ve got guys who’ve played a lot of test footie in McCarthy and Toner but it’s a fair slog.”
“To bring someone in with an age profile that Kane’s got who’s just won the Super title and he’s played test rugby.”
“It’s a great boost for us to have, he’s got an incredibly high work rate and we will be looking for him to be big for us across the course of the season,” O’Connor added.
As well as being an ideal replacement for Leo Cullen, Kane’s experience will be something the Leinster coach can rely on when he loses players to Ireland camps in November and during Six Nations time in February and March.
He says it will be a crucial time for him to peak and show other teams what he can do.
“It’s a huge part of the season, it’s vitally important in how you finish the end of the season and where you end up and to have Kane available for all of the season is a huge boost for us."
