Leinster v Ulster: John Cooney taking positives from injury lay-off

John Cooney has played just one competitive game in seven months

Ulster scrum-half John Cooney says he is "taking the positives" from his latest injury lay-off as he prepares to return to action against Leinster on Saturday after a hamstring problem.

Cooney was forced to come off with the injury during Ulster's season-opening United Rugby Championship home win over Glasgow in September.

The 31-year-old was sidelined with a neck injury at the end of last season.

"For me personally I found this injury to be good timing," said Cooney.

"There are rarely injuries in your career that you take positives from but my neck was still kind of bothering me all summer and I missed the pre-season that I would normally have," explained the Ulster number nine.

"I've treated the last eight weeks essentially as my pre-season as I didn't initially get what I usually get out of the physical aspect of it.

"Physically now I feel 10 times better than I did at the start of the season so I've actually really enjoyed these two months and have got a lot of gym work done.

"I feel a lot stronger and a lot more ready for contact."

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The former Leinster and Connacht player will make just his second appearance in seven months when he faces his native province after being named in the starting XV for Saturday night's interprovincial encounter at the RDS.

"I feel really good. I don't have to worry about physicality or fitness going into the game, which takes a lot of the pressure off me. I can just go out and try to perform," added Cooney.

"The neck problem took a lot longer than I thought and I felt like it threw my whole body off.

"I didn't feel like the player I was last season before the Glasgow game. I've enjoyed doing the work on my own but the last few weeks I've been able to get back training with the team."

'Taking the positives' from some close calls

Leinster sit top of the URC table with five wins from five games, four points ahead of Ulster, who suffered a heavy defeat by Connacht in their last URC outing.

Leo Cullen's side have won the last six meetings between the Irish provinces since Ulster's last success in 2019 but Cooney does not believe he and his team-mates will travel to Dublin with any inferiority complex.

"Twice last season I thought we were in a really good position against Leinster so we can take positives from those games.

"Once away at the RDS and then we were frustrated with some of the calls we didn't get when we played them in Belfast. In that game we were incredibly competitive, we played really well.

"They are the best team in the league and I enjoy the competitive aspect, trying to compete with the best."

Doak has 'rare attributes'

Cooney's enforced absence opened the door for teenage scrum-half Nathan Doak to gain some invaluable experience playing in the URC and Cooney was impressed with what he saw.

"Nathan has done brilliantly. It's a reflection of his workrate and it's brilliant to see what he is doing," enthused Cooney of the 19-year-old.

"He has some attributes you often wouldn't necessarily associate with younger players, and certainly ones that I didn't have at the age. His competitive attitude, stuff like that.

"He's also a quality kicker - both from the tee and in terms of his box-kicking."