Leinster's James Culhane aiming to emerge from chasing pack

There's no easy way into the Leinster line-up but James Culhane is ready to battle it out in one of the toughest areas of them all.

The Enniskerry native turns 22 next week and, with eight Leinster appearances already to his name, is aiming to make up ground on a star-studded back row at the province.

Culhane was one of Ireland's standouts in the Under-20s Grand Slam in 2022, earning man of the match nods against Wales and Italy, and being named player of the championship.

Those performances led to a call-up for the 2022 Emerging Ireland tour, where he featured twice, an achievement made even more impressive given the fact that he spent four weeks in hospital with a kidney issue after the Six Nations success.

"It was really random, my kidneys went into like acute failure," he said at the time.

Now, he’s just back from the most recent development trip to the Rainbow Nation where he played twice in the three-game tour and was captain in last weekend's win over the Cheetahs.

The UCD engineering student (below) made a brief appearance in Leinster’s opening URC win over Edinburgh but suffered a head injury soon after coming on.

He’s set to play against Connacht this weekend as Leo Cullen’s side aim to make it five from five following last Saturday’s Croke Park victory over Munster.

Primarily an 8, the competition among Leinster’s loose forwards is fierce: Ireland skipper Caelan Doris, former world player of the year Josh van der Flier, Lions three-Test starter Jack Conan, Ireland internationals Ryan Baird and Will Connors, the in-form Max Deegan won’t give up anything easy.

Scott Penny, who has captained Leinster on numerous occasions, and Alex Soroka, impressive on the Emerging Ireland tour, will want their shots, too.

"There’s plenty