Gutted not to be involved for tough European opener

The lead-in had been very positive. A good win the week before and going into Munster at home I felt we were in a really good place as the week had gone well in training and preparation seemed to be building nicely.

Personally, I was in a really good place physically and mentally and you can't beat the buzz of a big interpro week around the camp. There are additional elements thrown into the mix. Knowing the lads as we do and, of course, the small matter of national team selection. You can't lose sight either of the history of the interpros and the battles that went before. It all helps.

As to the game itself, ten minutes into the contest it was bubbling nicely and we traded penalties at 3-3 in between some big physical early exchanges.

I think we set the tone well like Dominic Ryan's big hit on CJ Stander off the first lineout. All the things you would look to were on the money.

That is as far as it got for me though. I got injured early on as Munster broke into our 22 after putting together some go-forward ball off tight effective carries from their pack.

One of those things. I went in to poach the ball after tackling Conor Murray and got my left foot caught under somebody while two Munster lads cleaned me out - all legit and part and parcel but I was caught in the wrong spot.

It was a nasty position, leg one way, body the other and unfortunately the injury forced me off and out of the game after just 13 minutes. If there is any light it's that thankfully the ligament damage was not as bad as first expected so I'm hoping to be back on the pitch in around six weeks but, like all injuries, I have to be patient and manage the comeback as best I can.

The medical facilities in the Aviva are first-class. So it was very tough seeing Munster taking a commanding lead while watching on a TV from a bed in the medical room as I waited to get a scan.

In fairness, they were quite clinical in the first half, scoring two tries and pinning us in our own territory. Then there was the intercept try to add insult to injury.

Munster are a tough team to claw back at any stage in a game and when they go ahead these days, they make life very difficult at the breakdown. They showed that they were happy to give up penalties instead of yielding an inch on the gain-line in the second half in particular when they had three separate players sent in the sin-bin. Overall, though, the game finished up 23-34 and Munster were deserving winners on the day.

I was laid up for most of the following week as I had to be assessed by our physios and doctors after scans on my ankle. It's the usual stuff then that you need to look after whether you are playing professional rugby or playing with the juniors. Ice. Lots of ice. I needed to keep my ankle on ice and also elevated to try to control the level of swelling on the injury.

Losing for Leinster isn't easy in front of 40,000 people but at least on a usual week you get back to training and it fades as your focus switches to the next game.

To not have that distraction beyond the TV and the remote made that a lot tougher for me last week. It is mad how quickly you can move on from such a defeat but you have to. There are four more points to play for and ideally five with a bonus point.

So, not surprisingly, the lads were all keen to get into Zebre last Saturday. Zebre have improved this year and can be tricky to play over there as they showed a few weeks back when beating Ulster and pushing the Ospreys to within a losing bonus point. That is the same Ospreys that are the only unbeaten side in the Pro12.

The lads certainly didn't take them for granted from what I saw. I had to watch the game online as it wasn't televised but there were a lot of areas that were better than the previous week. A bonus-point win would have been ideal but scoring two tries and keeping a clean sheet ourselves was encouraging going into the first pool game in Europe. I watched Wasps at the weekend against Bath in the Aviva Premiership and must say I was impressed. To go 29-0 up on a team like Bath is serious.

They are a very different team to what we faced a couple of seasons back in the Amlin Cup. They seem to have reinvented themselves with James Haskell as captain - he is back on top form and seems to cherish his role. Their scrum was an area that was eyecatching and a lot of their game seems to look for momentum from that area.

I'm gutted not to be involved for the Champions Cup opener. These weeks are the weeks you really feel the buzz around training in UCD and leading up to the game. It will be a tough task as Wasps have started their season strongly so I hope a packed RDS can be the difference for us come kick-off.