Glasgow v Leinster:IT'S AN ill wind and all that, but the premature and inadvertent end to Jamie Heaslip's summer tour with the red card he sustained in the opening Test against the All Blacks is effectively what makes him available for Leinster's competitive seasonal opener in Glasgow tonight.
Although the lightly used summer tourists Shane Horgan and John Fogarty are also included, all told, Leinster are without a further eight internationals who were in the Southern Hemisphere – along with Andrew Conway, who was on duty at the Under-20 World Cup.
Furthermore, they are missing Mike Ross (calf) for another week, medium-term casualties Shaun Berne and Leo Cullen, and longer-term wounded Stan Wright and Kevin McLaughlin.
Against that, departures and injuries have combined to deprive the Warriors of the middle five which guided them to a top-four finish last season.
Although there’s a fair sprinkling of relatively inexperienced players in Leinster’s ranks, the only league debutants per se are new recruits Heinke van der Merwe and Ed O’Donoghue, along with the Ballymena trialist at tight-head Simon Shawe.
GLASGOW: B Stortoni (capt); DTH van der Merwe, M Evans, G Morrison, F Aramburu; R Jackson, H Pyrgos; J Welsh, F Thomson, M Low, T Ryder, R Gray, R Wilson, C Fusaro, R Vernon. Replacements: P MacArthur, E Kalman, R Grant, A Muldowney, R Harley, D Weir, H OHare, P Murchie.
LEINSTER: L Fitzgerald; S Horgan, E O'Malley, F McFadden, N Morris; I Nacewa, I Boss; H van der Merwe, R Strauss, S Shawe, N Hines, E O'Donoghue, D Ryan, S O'Brien (capt), J Heaslip. Replacements: J Fogarty, J McGrath, B Prescott, M Galarza, S Keogh, P O'Donohoe, I Madigan, E Sheridan.
Referee: Tim Hayes (WRU).
Betting: 10/11 Glasgow, 20/1 Draw, 10/11 Leinster.
Forecast: Leinster to win.
