Leinster Confirm Johnny Sexton To Miss Northampton Clash

Leinster out-half Johnny Sexton will miss the eastern province’s Champions Cup clash with Northampton on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium following a knee injury picked up at the weekend.

Sexton came off injured in Leinster’s convincing victory over the Saints on Saturday after 42 minutes when he landed awkwardly following a tackle from Matt Proctor.

Leinster confirmed that Sexton would miss the game and will require further assessment as he sees a specialist on Monday for a further scan.

Joe Tomane will also miss the game after he aggravated his hamstring injury with Leinster outlining that he would be out for six to eight weeks.

Also ruled out of this weekend is Rory O’Loughlin who will continue his rehab following a shoulder injury, while there was no updates on long-term absentees Vakh Abdaladze (back), Jack Conan (foot), Barry Daly (knee) and Dan Leavy (knee).

James Ryan was another who came off injured against Northampton at the weekend after suffering a head injury, and he will follow the Graduated Return to Play Protocols under the supervision of team medics.

There was some good news however as hooker Seán Cronin has returned to full Leinster training following his neck injury.

New Irish head coach Andy Farrell will be hoping that Sexton’s injury is not serious enough to keep him out of the start of the Six Nations campaign which begins against Scotland in less than eight weeks time.