Caelan Doris went to the operating theatre on Thursday morning, with confirmation that will be out for the rest of the season and most of pre-season. The Leinster no8 had hoped the shoulder injury sustained against Northampton was only going to keep him out for four to six weeks - that's morphed into four to six months. "He is going for surgery as we speak and depending on how that is, it’s a four to six months’ time-frame from what I understand," revealed Leinster coach Leo Cullen. "It can be dangerous throwing out timelines but that’s what it seems like, hopefully it may not be as bad as that but that is the time-line which is being talked about. "It’s been a tough week with the fall-out from the game. And you could see when he did it at the time from the sideline, trying to get off an off-load away. "But even after that, he scores a try, rips the ball out of a player’s arms, and puts in a 50-22. And that’s all after the event. "He’s gutted for the team. That was hurting him more than anything else at the start of the week and then as the week goes on, other things start to dawn on him." And so ends what had been such a promising four Lions cycle which had looked like carrying him all the way to being 2025 Tour Captain. "He’s been outstanding here. We wish him a speedy opportunity and hopefully he will get another chance to go on a trip like that but unfortunately for him it won’t be this time. "He’s put the team first ahead of himself. Unfortunately, it’s an occupational hazard of the game we play. He was in a sling on Monday morning during a pretty open and honest challenging morning that we had here going through it all and we will need to continue doing that. "We need to be open and honest when we reviewing and it will help us to become better in the future. But it is pretty painful when you have to go through it." Leinster must continue their 2024/25 trophy search without Doris and this begins this weekend against Zebre in the Aviva. It is a game clearly being taken very seriously as they have six Lions tourists in the starting team, another three on the bench with just Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong and Hugo Keenan getting the week off. "We had a good review, everyone was open and honest and we're ready to turn the page now," says Jamie Osborne who will be at full-back. "t was tough but we have to do better now, there's plenty of play for the rest of the season. "Everyone feels the disappointment, the hurt, you know, I think we were all looking forward to the next few weeks. "I think we all know that our seasons are going to be judged on trophies. We haven't done that for four years now. "I haven't really been a part of a trophy winning season at all so the motivation is very high. And yeah, like, we've fallen short in the semi final of the URC for three years in a row now. "It's a competition that is really competitive and you know, whatever happens in the league, the regular season, doesn't really matter when it comes to knockout games. so we need to be be better, better in that, this year." Leinster expect to win trophies but accept they don't have a divine right to do so. "Leo would often speak about the legacy and what that means and it's looking back at past teams and past triumphs and it's about building on that and ensuring that you leave your mark in the legacy and pass it on to the next generation and we are still looking to do that, this is what we've all dreamed of doing. "I think most of the people in this building have grown up watching Leinster and supporting Leinster so it's a real privilege to be able to put on the Jersey and definitely more of a privilege than anything. "The pressure that comes with it is definitely a privilege. The focus is now on the URC which, to be fair, is harder to win than it ever was. "Yeah, 100 percent, we all know how the South African teams have added massively to the league. "And, you know, I think if you look from third place to 15th place, I'm not sure what it is now, but at one stage in the season there was nothing between them really and everyone seemed to be fighting for playoff position. "So the league's really competitive and, you know, we're still trying to guarantee a home run up through the knockout stages. Hopefully we can get that done this week." Leinster Rugby (team v Zebre)15. Jamie Osborne (60)14. Jimmy O’Brien (97)13. Garry Ringrose (137)12. Jordie Barrett (10)11. James Lowe (88)10. Sam Prendergast (29)9. Luke McGrath (229)1. Jack Boyle (23)2. Rónan Kelleher (74)3. Thomas Clarkson (54)4. Joe McCarthy (46)5. Diarmuid Mangan (13)6. Ryan Baird (80)7. Josh van der Flier (155)8. Jack Conan (161) CAPTAINReplacements:16. John McKee (34)17. Andrew Porter (135)18. Rabah Slimani (19)19. James Ryan (92)20. James Culhane (17)21. Jamison Gibson-Park (154)22. Ciarán Frawley (99)23. Robbie Henshaw (102) Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email.