The prospect of James Lowe leaving Leinster appears be getting more real, after Leo Cullen again declined to comment on the winger's future at the province.
Lowe marked his 100th appearance for the province with two tries to bring his tally up to 71 in blue, moving him two clear of Shane Horgan in their all-time list.
The 33-year-old's contract is due to expire at the end of this season, with reports on Friday that he has turned down the province’s offer of a one-year extension.
Those reports came a day after Cullen chose not to offer an update on the Ireland international's future, saying "these conversations are always ongoing."
And when asked if there have been any further developments in recent days, the Leinster coach had little detail to offer.
"Listen, James will come out in terms of his own individual piece, so, it's not really right for me to comment on him at this moment in time, if that's OK," Cullen said, after the 59-10 URC quarter-final win at Aviva Stadium.
The head coach did, however, go into detail when asked about what the Ireland international has given to Leinster over the years.
"I remember when we signed him from the Chiefs and he came on good recommendation at the time," said Cullen.
"He's been a great character in the group. Very, very different, you know, what he brings, great energy. Internally, we had a video there just in terms of some of the stuff that he's done in a Leinster jersey over his career.
"There's not many James Lowes running around the streets that we've come across so far. He's been a great addition to the group over the years."
Lowe’s tries capped off a comfortable win for the province, as they booked their place in the semi-final of the BKT United Rugby Championship.
The defending champions scored nine tries in total against the tourists, setting up a meeting with another South African side, the Stormers, next Saturday evening.
While the Lions had little to offer and looked weary from four weeks on tour, Leinster made light work of them as they avoided a hangover following last week’s Investec Champions Cup final.
"It's been a really tough week now for everybody involved in the club. As you know, we try to pour our heart and soul into Champions Cup rugby every year.
"You get to a final, an amazing occasion over there, but our opponents were just way more clinical than us on the day. Lots of different aspects of the game, they were just better than us. We need to take that on the chin, we need to go through it, we need to review it.
"But when you lose a game, sometimes it's great to have a game to look forward to quite quickly.
"I thought our guys, in the circumstances, were very professional in terms of how they prepared for this game. There's lots of good stuff about their performance from the team and from individuals within that as well. Overall, pleased.
"Has it fixed last week? No. But it's another week for us as a group, which is great because it's just saving the time we have together now. But it's lovely to have a semi-final to look forward to, obviously against the Stormers now."
The province will likely have a few injury doubts for next week, with Joe McCarthy and Dan Sheehan departing with minor knocks during the game, while Tadhg Furlong was a late scratch before the warm-up.
"Again, with just a few niggles this week, we named Tadhg on Thursday and thought he'd be OK, because we trained Tuesday and Wednesday. Listen, he wasn't quite right. A little tightness in his calf is exactly what's wrong with him.
"Just with previous, it's just making a sensible decision there. Anyway, we pulled him.
"There was a couple of other guys [injured] as well, there were a few niggles from earlier in the week. Garry [Ringrose], Ronan Kelleher, Jordan Larmour as well, those three. But I think they should be OK, I think, to go this week coming.
"But we'll see how they are, obviously, come Monday. But I think they'll be all OK. I hope they will be all OK for selection," he added.
