Star-studded Leinster XV awaits Ulster
Leinster coach Michael Cheika has unveiled a star-studded Leinster outfit for Saturday’s Magners League meeting with Ulster at Dublin’s RDS.
Cheika has made just two changes to the pack that started last weekend’s 39-7 Heineken Cup victory over the Scarlets, with Stan Wright coming into the front row to line up alongside Cian Healy and John Fogarty in the absence of Springbok CJ van der Linde.
Malcolm O’Kelly, a second-half replacement for Scotland’s Nathan Hines, starts alongside skipper Leo Cullen in the second row, with Kevin McLaughlin continuing his back-row partnership with Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip.
The backline remains unchanged which means that there are five full Ireland internationals; including Eoin Reddan – who again partners Shaun Berne at half-back – and Brian O’Driscoll who starts at centre alongside Gordon D’Arcy.
Meanwhile, Ulster head coach Brian McLaughlin has made a number of changes to the side that went down 16-29 to Stade Français last weekend.
Phoenix Ulster Rugby Academy player Jamie Smith starts at fullback, with Darren Cave and Ian Whitten paired in the centres, replacing Paddy Wallace and Andrew Trimble, respectively, both of whom are being rested under the IRFU Player Management Programme.
In the final change amongst the backs, Niall O’Connor starts at flyhalf, in-place of Ian Humphreys, who moves down to the bench.
Up front, Bryan Young replaces a rested Tom Court at loosehead prop, with David Pollock coming in for the rested Stephen Ferris at No.6 and TJ Anderson starting in the openside position.
“We are in a very tough run of games right through this whole phase,” said McLaughlin ahead of the weekend – the first of many tough fixtures for Ulster.
“Right from now we have Leinster this week, Munster the following week, then Ospreys, then we are back to Europe,” he explained.
“So it is a very important phase for us, especially with the Magners League being so tight, you just have to look at Glasgow, we lost and went from second to seventh in the table. It is very, very tight and we have to be in a situation that we have to get something from every game.”
Looking ahead to Saturday, he added: “We are looking for a performance.
“We were very disappointed at the weekend in Paris. We thought that we had fought hard, but to fight hard just wasn’t good enough. Our discipline at times let us down, and we made too many errors, which cost us dear on the day. These are things that we have got to iron out for this weekend. We will go to Dublin positive, and hopefully come away with something.”
The teams:
Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O’Driscoll, 12 Gordon D’Arcy, 11 Isa Nacewa, 10 Shaun Berne, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Malcolm O’Kelly, 4 Leo Cullen (captain), 3 Stan Wright, 2 John Fogarty, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Bernard Jackman, 17 Mike Ross, 18 Nathan Hines/Devin Toner, 19 Stephen Keogh, 20 Paul O’Donohoe, 21 Fergus McFadden, 22 Girvan Dempsey.
Ulster: 15 Jamie Smith, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Simon Danelli, 10 Niall O’Connor, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Chris Henry (captain), 7 TJ Anderson, 6 David Pollock, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Ed O’Donoghue, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Nigel Brady, 1 Bryan Young.
Replacements: 16 Andy Kyriacou, 17 Declan Fitzpatrick, 18 Ryan Caldwell, 19 Willie Faloon, 20 Cillian Willis, 21 Ian Humphreys, 22 Jonny Shiells.
Date: Saturday, December 26
Venue: Royal Dublin Society (RDS)
Kick-off: 17.30
Referee: George Clancy
Assistant referees: John Lacey, Leo Colgan
Television match official: Jude Quinn
