FOLLOWING SIGNIFICANT ABSENCES for both players, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen was pleased to be able to welcome Ross Byrne and Jamie Osborne back into the fold at the RDS on Saturday.

Whereas Byrne had been sidelined after hurting his arm in the early moments of a United Rugby Championship showdown with arch rivals Munster at the Aviva Stadium on 25 November, a shoulder injury sustained in another interprovincial clash away to Connacht a week later also kept Osborne on the treatment table for an extended period.

Yet with 19 of their provincial colleagues currently part of the Ireland squad for the Six Nations Championship, this fit-again pair played their part as Leinster secured a 47-18 bonus point triumph over Benetton at the Ballsbridge venue on the weekend.

Byrne knocked over four conversions and performed solidly before making way for Sam Prendergast on the stroke of 70 minutes, while Osborne produced a player of the match display as the eastern province remained at the summit of the URC table.

“Those guys, they’ve missed a good chunk. It’s a big block of games that they ended up missing. It’s great to have the two of them back, because even though Jamie is incredibly young, he has a lot of experience for us now,” Cullen acknowledged after Saturday’s game.

“He’s definitely one for the future for us, for sure. His big left boot gets us out of trouble at different stages during the game. It’s very positive to get the two of them through the game.

“It’s not just what you see in the 80 minutes, it is how Ross runs the week. It’s obviously the bit that you don’t see, but he’s very good in terms of the control of the group. I thought he was excellent, so it was great to have him back.”

Like his fellow Kildare man Jimmy O’Brien and Ciaran Frawley – who had been released back to Leinster at the beginning of last week before returning to international training on Thursday – Osborne is a highly versatile player. Already this season, he has played in both centre positions and was also used on the left-wing in that aforementioned game against Connacht in Galway.

He has also been named at full-back on a couple of occasions and while he did excel at inside centre for much of Saturday’s game, his ability to slot into any number of roles in the Leinster team was once again showcased in the latter stages of the tie.

“When Tommy [O’Brien] goes off, Liam Turner goes onto the wing, so then he [Osborne] is playing 30 minutes at 13 as well. If something happened to Henry [McErlean], he would have covered 15 today as well,” Cullen explained.

“Again, that versatility is really important for the group. He looks comfortable as a 12. It’s trying to play to his strengths as well with that big left boot, but he’s incredibly skilful as well.”

Although this was their first competitive outing since getting the better of Leicester Tigers in the pool stages of the European Champions Cup on 20 January, you have to go back to a New Year’s Day loss at the hands of Ulster for the last URC encounter that Leinster had prior to Saturday.

Their next game in the competition will be a visit to Cardiff on 2 March, but there is an intriguing friendly clash for them to negotiate before then.

This Friday sees Leinster locking horns with English Premiership outfit Saracens at the StoneX Stadium in London and this is a fixture that Cullen believes will prove to be hugely beneficial for the up-and-coming members of his squad.

“Some guys will get an opportunity to play in that game, because we’ve a pretty small squad. Why do we have that game? If you think, you’ve a new coach [Jacques Nienaber] coming into the group and you’ve some young players. It’s trying to have that trickle down effect through the squad and making sure everyone is comfortable system wise,” Cullen added.

Daire Walsh