LEINSTER HAVE CONFIRMED the worst fears over Johnny Sexton’s groin injury, with the province announcing that the 37-year-old is likely to miss the rest of this season.

This campaign is set to be Sexton’s last one with Leinster, with the out-half expected to retire from playing after captaining Ireland at the World Cup later this year.

Sexton had hoped to lead Leinster to a Champions Cup and URC double this season, with both finals potentially taking place in Dublin, but it now looks as though that ambition has been quashed.

The Leinster captain injured his groin as Ireland claimed the Grand Slam against England in Dublin two weekends ago and Leinster have now confirmed that the issue requires surgery.

“Johnny Sexton will see a specialist on Tuesday and have a procedure on the groin injury picked up in Ireland’s Guinness Six Nations game against England which will likely keep him sidelined for the remainder of the Leinster Rugby season,” reads a statement from Leinster this afternoon.

Sexton has won 189 caps for Leinster, having made his senior debut back in 2006. He has helped the province to four Heineken Champions Cup titles, a Challenge Cup, and six Pro12/Pro14/URC trophies.

Sexton will now be putting all his attention on recovering from the groin injury in time to have a strong pre-season with Ireland this summer ahead of the World Cup, which kicks off in September in France.

Leinster have lots of cover at out-half, with Ross Byrne, Harry Byrne, Ciarán Frawley, and academy duo Charlie Tector and Sam Prendergast all in the province, but the talismanic Sexton will obviously be missed.

Meanwhile, Leinster have announced that Garry Ringrose, Hugo Keenan, and Caelan Doris are all continuing the graduated return-to-play protocols this week having suffered head injuries while on Ireland duty.

Ringrose took a heavy blow to the head in Ireland’s win over Scotland three weekends ago, while Keenan and Doris were forced off during the win against England.

Leinster indicated that Ringrose, Doris, and Keenan will be further assessed this week before a decision is made on their availability for this weekend’s Champions Cup clash against Ulster.

As Leinster prepare for that round-of-16 game at the Aviva Stadium, they still have several other players on their longer-term injury list.

Jamie Osborne [knee], Charlie Ngatai [hamstring], Rónan Kelleher [shoulder], Joe McCarthy [ankle], Cormac Foley [hamstring], and Martin Moloney [knee] remain sidelined.

Written by Murray Kinsella and posted on the42.ie