Dan Sheehan is taking it on the chin that his boxing days are over - and he's ducking and diving when it comes to Lions selection talk. The Leinster and Ireland star is almost back to peak physical fitness after his ACL lay-off and although he returned to action very quickly - he was out of action for six months - no corners were cut in his rehab. He took up boxing to accelerate the process but admits that he wasn't able to keep up the training. "I don't really miss it," Sheehan confessed. "It was tough. I was getting lashed around by 50-year-old, 60-year-old men!" Instead, he's delivering knock-out punches on the rugby pitch while doing everything he can to avoid conversations about British and Lions selection before Saturday night. Andy Farrell names his Lions squad next Thursday for the trip to Australia and the prolific Sheehan will be included, having only returned from a cruciate injury ahead of the Six Nations. The hooker has been on a try scoring spree since his return - he has scored 12 tries in nine games since his comeback against the Stormers on January 25. He has scored hat-tricks in two of his last four games - against Italy in the Six Nations finale and against Glasgow in the Champions Cup quarter-final win that sets up Saturday's semi-final clash with Northampton. "It's been a good last couple of weeks for me personally but they're all the flashy stats and coaches look at different stats, which is the way rugby is," said the 25-year-old. "But it's nice - that's why I enjoy rugby, that sort of flashiness, scoring tries, playing nice rugby. It's been very enjoyable over the last couple of weeks and hopefully Saturday will be similar." While Ireland's Six Nations hopes tailed off following the defeat to France, Sheehan and a number of Leinster players' status is on the rise again with Leinster's impressive run in Europe. But Sheehan insists there has been no chat in the province's dressing-room about the Lions squad announcement that is taking place in The 02 in London. "No, definitely not," he said. "We are playing rugby for the week that’s in it. This competition is too special to us to look at it in any way - an awkward conversation to even bring up. "I find it’s something I’m trying to avoid in a lot of ways because this competition is so special to me and everyone in the room. To come up to three finals in the last three years and not win them, there’s good motivation in the group to make sure we get our job done on Saturday. That’s all that we’ll be talking about." Sheehan concedes it is "human nature" that the Lions chat might start after the semi-final but stresses that selection will come from performing in the big Champions Cup games. "So all I can do is play my rugby and fit into a system," he said. "I’ll do my best to perform as best I can the next few weeks to do everything I can to be there in the summer. But, like I say, it’s trying to get into the team here and get a win." It was Northampton that Leinster beat in last year's Croke Park semi-final and the Saints will provide the opposition across the Liffey this weekend. Sheehan believes both sides will have taken plenty from that encounter, but that the Premiership side will take belief from their near-successful visit to Du lin. "That was a big game for us in Croke Park for the first time," he said. "Northampton put on a good show, a good fight, so I’m sure they will be coming over with good confidence. "So, yeah I think both teams will probably use it to their advantage, but we need to make sure we are all over them again. A few slight changes obviously in personnel that they have and so just making sure we’re all on. "Northampton will have a lot of shots and they play some very good rugby, especially with their backline and starter plays around midfield. So we need to be all over it. "It was nice that we had a good week's prep last week where we could turn one eye over to Northampton early, just to get that prep going. We could bounce back in on Monday feeling one step ahead and ready to go." Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.