Joe Molloy was joined by Sinead O’Carroll and Gary O’Toole on the Sunday Paper Review to reflect on Leinster’s win over Munster as they reached the Pro14 final.
Leinster remain on course to secure a Champions Cup and Pro14 double should they beat the Scarlets at the Aviva Stadium next weekend but are counting the cost of a gruelling season with Isa Nacewa a prime example of players suffering through injury.
And Gary O’Toole shared his concern over the painkiller culture that has become the norm for players looking to get themselves though a packed fixture calendar.
“I would say the nonsteroidals are being passed around like smarties just to get them through the game,” O’Toole said.
“The medicalisation of sport – what becomes the norm? I saw Scott Fardy driving past me this morning and I figure he was heading towards the sea for a cold bath. This is what they have to do – they do it all the time.
“There’s many a time I’ve been getting out of the sea in Seapoint after a Leinster match and I see them all walking down the slip into the water and they don’t look agile.
“But I don’t know how you protect people from that because that’s what I go to the RDS for to see. I want to see James Ryan floor somebody; I like when Garry Ringrose catches Simon Zebo unannounced.
“And yet here I am saying they have to be protected but you can’t have it both ways.”
O’Toole also pointed to a number of Leinster players who have upcoming international commitments with Ireland to fulfil and the danger of insufficient rest.
“From a medical point of view it never ceases to amaze me as the season goes on, more and more bandages appear,” O’Toole said.
“Andrew Porter came onto the pitch yesterday and he might as well have been in a cast there was so much bandage on his right leg.
“I don’t know how they get themselves through this part of the season but my worry is about them having a couple of weeks off and then going to Australia which is no rest whatsoever.”
Written by James Hopper
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