Let’s hope this isn’t another sign of things to come.

Sean O’Brien was a notable omission from Leinster’s team to take on Munster tomorrow. The Lions back-row has a calf problem that has ruled him out of the tie, but apparently it’s nothing too serious.

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen says O’Brien ‘got a stamp on his calf’ during his first appearance of the season last week against Edinburgh. But the flanker did suffer from a number of calf problems last season, so hopefully this time round it won’t mean another stop-start campaign for him.

“When Sean went to run this week he just wasn’t happy,” Cullen explained.

“There’s good balance in the back-rowers we have starting and there’s some good match-ups there.

“Rhys and Peter O’Mahony, Josh against Tommy O’Donnell and Jack against CJ Stander. Even Jordi and Jack O’Donoghue on the bench as well. Both teams are very well stocked in that area.”

45,000 tickets have already been sold for the huge inter-provincial game tomorrow at the Aviva.