Leinster hopeful of Johnny Sexton return for Ulster trip

Johnny Sexton could be in line to return for Leinster in this Friday's BKT United Rugby Championship derby with Ulster at Kingspan Stadium (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).

The captain sat out the province's first two games of the URC campaign, as they picked up bonus-point wins against Zebre Parma and Benetton.

They face a much stiffer challenge this Friday however, as they travel to Belfast for their first Interpro of the season, taking on an Ulster side who also have maximum points through their opening two games.

Head coach Leo Cullen was coy when asked about Sexton's potential return last Friday saying they "expect to have one or two" more of their frontline players back.

James Lowe and Hugo Keenan remain sidelined with injury, while the hamstring issue which saw James Ryan withdraw from the side to face Benetton isn't expected to be long-term.

Along with Sexton, Tadhg Furlong sat out the opening two games, with Cullen adding that they will make a call on his availability later in the week, while Jamison Gibson-Park will make his first appearance of the season, having been sidelined with an illness last week.

Leinster come into the derby hurting, having lost home and away to Dan McFarland's side last season. And Cullen says they haven't forgotten those defeats.

"Any time we lose it tends to sting, that's because it means a lot to lads, when you're involved in the team and are wearing the jersey, it means a lot," he said.

"So yeah, when you lose, particularly the derby games... it's slightly unusual, the timings of some of those games last year, but we lost them both so I wouldn't make any excuses really.

"Both teams were affected [by Covid-19] at different stages of the season, that's why I say it's unusual, straight into such