Ruddock eyeing must-win clash for Leinster

The Irish side travel to Wales to take on Scarlets on Saturday, desperate to improve on recent form which has seen them win just one of their last three league games.

That run includes a 9-9 draw with Ospreys last time out which means that although Leinster currently sit in the fourth and final play-off spot, they are just two points ahead of Steve Tandy's men in fifth.

Ruddock made his return from a broken arm in that Ospreys draw and head coach Matt O'Connor's squad will be further boosted this weekend by the return of several Ireland internationals.

And while the back-rower believes losing a number of players to international duty has hurt the side, he admits it is the basic mistakes being made in matches that must be eradicated.

"Our performance levels haven't been good enough this year," explained Ruddock. "As to why that is, we've just been too inaccurate.

"It's always troublesome when you go from having a team that plays together regularly to bringing in new faces.

"It's not that the lads haven't stepped up individually. It's more the collective performance. We haven't got that same accuracy we had prior to this period.

"I think three weeks training together, and three games together, hopefully is enough to put things right this weekend.

"I think it will be a tough challenge against Scarlets going away again. We've a lot to work on but there were a lot of positives we took out of the [Ospreys] game.

"We're going in the right direction but a win is a must this weekend."

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