O'Brien should be back for Castres

Sean O'Brien will sit out Leinster's European Champions Cup tie against Montpellier because of a tight calf.

O'Brien was a notable absentee from the matchday 23 that was named at lunchtime on Thursday with the flanker ruled out after pulling up in training.

Head coach Leo Cullen revealed he was omitted as a precaution but is confident he will be available for the final pool game against Castres next weekend.

"Sean just had a bit of tightness in his calf this week so we didn't take any risks with him. He should be available next week," Cullen told his press conference.

In total there are five changes to the side that beat Zebre in the Guinness PRO12 last weekend with Rob Kearney named on the bench despite proving his fitness.

Instead, Cullen has opted to recall Isa Nacewa at full-back with Rory O'Loughlin and Adam Byrne continuing on the wings and the head coach admits there were a couple of reasons behind his decision not to start Kearney.

"We just wanted to see how he came through the week a little bit. Just to give us that certainty earlier in the week we went with that combination. They've all been going well so I thought they deserved the start as well," he explained.

One player definitely out of the games against Montpellier and Castres is Sean Cronin due to the hamstring injury he sustained last week.

Cullen is planning without the hooker for the trip to Castres but is unsure how long he will be out for.

“I’ll get a proper update next week. He is just seeking an opinion this week. He’ll be out for a few weeks anyway. He won’t be back for this period. We’ll see exactly how long he is (out for)," Cullen added.

“It’s not ideal. It looked reasonably innocuous at the time, but he’s done a bit of damage.”

eir Sport channels are available across the eir Vision, Sky and Vodafone TV platforms as well as on the eir Sport app. All 6 channels in the eir Sport pack are available for free if you are a residential eir broadband customer.