Leinster happy to play waiting game on Furlong

Leinster are happy to wait until Friday before making a call on Tadhg Furlong's availability for Sunday's BKT United Rugby Championship meeting with Connacht at the RDS.

The tighthead prop has missed the last three games due to an ankle injury, with this afternoon's latest medical report stating he still requires further assessment.

And assistant coach Andrew Goodman says they're continuing to monitor his progress as he completes "bits and pieces" of training.

"Building back into it. We're just trying to get some of the running load right and some of the rugby stuff as well. We’ll just have to see how he goes off the back of today, and into the week

"It has to be made by Friday, the main training day, so we usually tend with our injured boys so that they can get through that, and we’ll make the call then."

Will Connors is also nearing close to a return to full training, with the Kildare flanker having been sidelined since October due to a bicep injury.

The province have no fresh injury concerns to deal with following Monday's win against Munster, but they are set to make several changes to their side, with some of the frontline internationals who started at Thomond Park in line to be rested.

However, Leo Cullen is likely to bring multiple Irish stars back into his side, with James Ryan, Rónan Kelleher, Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier and Jimmy O'Brien among those who sat out the recent win.

Having played on Monday, the New Year's Day visit of Connacht is a short turnaround for the league leaders, with Connacht getting three days extra rest.

"We're quite used to these six-day turnarounds, we've been dealing with them well," Goodman added.

"We’ll review and take what we can from the Munster game and look at the learnings that will