Michael Cheika is hoping that Leinster have become a better team following the squad's lay-off during the RBS 6 Nations.

The Australian has captain Leo Cullen and CJ van der Linde available for Sunday's game against Edinburgh, while Gordon D'Arcy has been included in his 29-man panel after asking to play.

"We're getting close, for the first time this season, to having everyone available," Cheika told reporters on Tuesday.

"So if everyone can come through this weekend's game without any problems, then next week could be a week where we will have our whole squad to choose from."

D'Arcy apart, the rest of Leinster's Grand Slam heroes will not play this weekend, though Cheika was impressed by his centre's attitude.

"Gordon's keen to be involved and has expressed his desire to play this weekend.

"He's had time off earlier in the week, so he won't come back and join us until later in the week, and it's good because we've a Sunday game so we've an extra bit of time to prepare. We respect that from our players, if they want to play, we pick them."

The Leinster boss is also confident that the injury winger Luke Fitzgerald picked up in Cardiff will not keep him sidelined for too long.

"I don't think that [his problem is] anything too serious from what I've seen so far, but I haven't had a full medical report. I'm sure if it was something serious I would have known by now.

"I won't guarantee anything but he had scans yesterday [Monday] just as a precaution but we'd be confident that he'll be ok."

Cheika did, however, reveal that he has been planning for the upcoming three fixtures [Ulster, Munster and then Harlequins in the Heineken Cup] for several weeks.

"It's a big test for us," he conceded. "I see Ulster buoyed by their win at Thomond Park against Munster and they'll definitely be coming here targeting doing that away double.

"We know that our title aspirations are in the next two games very much so we have to see what pans out.

"Then, obviously, we'll look at the set-up of our team for the week after that and then the week after that. There's a real energy in training and real enthusiasm, and I'd like to think we've improved a little bit over that time.

"We've been looking at what will help us over the next three games, starting with Sunday and seeing if we can become a better team, which will help us get through what will be a tough period."