Ireland pair Jamie Heaslip and Rob Kearney are in a race to prove their fitness for possible British and Irish Lions selection after undergoing minor surgery that will result in significant lay-offs.
Heaslip has completed a back procedure that rules him out for an unspecified number of weeks while Kearney has had surgery on a knee issue requiring four to six weeks of rehabilitation, ruling them both out of Leinster's Champions Cup quarter-final against Wasps.
Neither player was able to take part in the final match of the RBS 6 Nations against England last Saturday, with Heaslip withdrawing from the team shortly before kick-off and Kearney sidelined earlier in the build-up.
"It's hard to be definitive with timelines. Jamie just had a procedure done on his back. He had disc issues. Obviously they come on quite quickly," Leinster boss Leo Cullen said.
"It obviously rules him out of the next number of weeks. When we get a report we'll find out how long that will be. It sounds like they're reasonably standard procedures.
"Rob had an issue with his knee. It happened early during training in the week of the the England game.
"He had a procedure done during the week after seeing a specialist on Tuesday. That's probably four to six weeks. We'll see how he comes through that."
Heaslip, the number eight, could be squeezed out of contention by Billy Vunipola and Toby Faletau, or indeed international team-mate CJ Stander, while Kearney is hoping to partake in his third Lions our when the squad is named on 19 April.
