Leinster boss Michael Cheika has expressed his excitement at the imminent arrival of Eoin Reddan.
 
Ireland international scrum-half Reddan announced on Monday that he will be leaving London Wasps this summer to link up with Leinster.
 
Given that he tried, and failed, to sign the player last year, Cheika is unsurprisingly delighted that he has finally managed to get his man.
 
"Obviously it's a big asset for us to get someone of his experience who is also coming from the culture of a big club like Wasps. I think, also, that the length of the deal that he signed for signified the intent of the player and we're very happy to have him on board for next season,” he enthused.
 
"We have been talking since he made it apparent with his own club that this was his wish. Obviously we can't do anything until the player has organised himself with his own club.
 
”Once he made it apparent to us that he had discussions with Wasps, because obviously we approached him last season when he was out of contract, and we had had some good negotiations (and) at that time, it was unfortunate that he did not come.
 
"Then he came to us and expressed his interest in coming to us this year and we're grateful to have a player of the quality coming to join us.
 
”I think he's going to bring the quality of his play, number one. And he will bring experience in big games at the top end of the spectrum. I think that he'll provide leadership as well around the park. I think he's going to be a very big asset for us."
 
Meanwhile, Cheika has revealed that Ireland full-back Rob Kearney will miss this weekend’s Heineken Cup semi-final against Munster through illness.
 
”Kearney's not going to make it. But even if he was to get himself out (on the field) he has had no training behind him for the last ten days so we wouldn't even consider it,” he explained.
 
”He had to go to hospital because he had quite a high fever, but he's ok now. He has recovered well and the doctors have really looked after him well and he's in good spirits too.
 
"The priority for him is to become healthy again and getting him back on the field as soon as we can. It's times like this that you're happy to have the kind of squad that we have with top quality players.
 
"CJ [van der Linde] has been back in training today (Monday). Tomorrow (Tuesday) he'll undergo his full test as far as how capable he is of playing. But we'd be confident that he'll get past that and if he does then we'll have to see how he fits into the squad.”