Bernard Jackman says he would be surprised to see Garry Ringrose feature in next week's Investec Champions Cup final against Toulouse, if the Leinster co-captain doesn't see any game-time in Saturday's meeting with Ulster.
The centre has played just once since the end of January due to a lingering shoulder issue, briefly returning from the injury for Ireland's final Guinness Six Nations game against Scotland in March.
Ringrose suffered a reoccurrence of the injury upon returning to his province, with the outlook described as "day to day" by attack coach Andrew Goodman on Monday.
Both James Ryan and Hugo Keenan look set to make their comebacks from injury against Ulster at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday evening, with Ringrose's status for this week less clear.
And Jackman says it would be a major risk to put the Ireland international straight back into the team for the Champions Cup final, if he doesn't get minutes in Saturday's Interpro first.
"I rate Garry Ringrose, like everyone does, but it'd a big ask for him to come in with no game-time," Jackman said on the RTÉ Rugby podcast.
"I don't put him in [to the team v Toulouse] because I think they're going to go 6:2 [on the bench], so that's the only thing that would put me off, or else you have to start him. That's a big ask. Ideally he would get some game time this week.
"The Osborne-Henshaw partnership has had a good bit of time recently to gel, and looks strong.
"I really hoped he would get minutes this week, and reading between the lines he's not even in full contact this week, or maybe just not at the start of the week, so it'll be a real race for him."
The province all but confirmed that Ryan and Keenan would feature in some capacity at Kingspan Stadium this weekend, having overcome respective arm and hip injuries.
And Jackman says their return opens the door for Leo Cullen to go for a 6:2 bench split in next week's European decider with Toulouse.
"Really positive to have Hugo [Keenan] and James Ryan going to be fit, Hugo would start and James would probably start against Toulouse, but it makes your bench stronger as well," he added.
"I think they'll go 6:2 on the bench against Toulouse and ideally for them it would be [Ciarán] Frawley on the bench covering multiple positions, rather than someone like Garry [Ringrose].
"I know Garry can play wing as well but they need someone who can play at 10."
Jackman was joined on the podcast by former Munster out-half Jonny Holland, who made the case for Ringrose to potentially be included next week, even if he doesn't feature against Ulster.
"He needed game time this week, but he's clearly someone you can take a punt on, if they're talking about him in the conversation [for selection] when he's so far away from training at the moment," the Cork Constitution head coach said.
If Garry Ringrose doesn't return this weekend for Leinster, will they take a chance on his fitness in the Champions Cup final?
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"That's probably his leadership qualities, and something we probably don't understand from this side; what a fella actually does for a team day-in and day-out and on the training pitch, and the confidence they give to other people, the communication they have with other players on the pitch, to allow them do their job.
"I think that's where Garry Ringrose is very, very important for Leinster. From here, we can't see if he's training or not, we can't see if he's showing the glimpses that's needed to actually punt and put him into a starting team against Toulouse."
The province were heavily criticised for fielding weakened teams on their tour of South Africa last month, and were made to pay for it as they dropped below Glasgow Warriors to second in the table.
Cullen picked close to a first choice squad last week as they hammered Ospreys 61-14, and while he's expected to rest some frontline players this weekend, the expectation is that the Leinster coach will have another strong 23 heading up to Belfast this week.
Holland believes their need for wins in the URC will stand to them when they travel to London next week.
He said: "I think they're dangerous in this position now. There's still huge expectation on Leinster as always, but it's just shifted a small bit.
"I think the favourite's tag has gone from them a small bit, and that's a very dangerous thing to do for Leinster. They're going to unleash, and whether that's on Ulster and Toulouse, I don't know, but they're massively dangerous, and I do think that's going to help them.
"The competition in their squad seems to be frighteningly high with the likes of [Jamie] Osborne coming through.
"I think Leinster are ferociously dangerous when you're talking about them like this. The desperation, the need tor these trophies is very, very high, and they've obviously got the tools and resources to go and get both."
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