MAGNERS LEAGUE NEWS ROUND-UP:AS FEARED in the west, but hoped for up north, Leinster have decided to face into two games just 48 hours apart by targeting the first of them. The European champions took the unusual step of announcing both of their line-ups for tomorrow's rearranged Magners League game against Connacht at the Sportsground and for Glasgow at Firhill on Friday.
It seems the odds against Leinster extending their unbeaten run to 13 games in Galway have plummeted, if the odds have then gone out on it coming to an end two nights later.
Leinster’s rationale for focusing on the Connacht game is understandable on a number of fronts. This being a game-in-hand prior to the last two rounds of the regular season, they know that with a seven-point buffer at the top, a win over Connacht will guarantee them top seeding and with it home advantage in the semi-finals and, should they reach it, the final.
It will also afford their front-line players a 10-day build-up to their Heineken Cup semi-final away to Toulouse on Saturday week.
And there is the possibility the squad for Friday’s game may have to travel over by boat on Thursday. The plan is to fly over on the day of the game, but those plans are obviously, figuratively if not literally, up in the air.
Shane Horgan and Gordon D’Arcy are rested from both line-ups, while Devin Toner broke an ankle in Lansdowne’s AIB League Division Two semi-final win over DLSP on Saturday, and so joins Jonathan Sexton, Rob Kearney (both still touch-and-go for the Toulouse game), Luke Fitzgerald and Seán O’Brien on their casualty list.
And Fergus McFadden (calf strain) is also a doubt for the Glasgow game.
Against that, Brian O’Driscoll returns for D’Arcy as one of eight changes from the starting line-up that recorded their 11th win in a dozen matches at home to the Ospreys last Friday. It will be his first outing since injuring his knee in the 29-28 Heineken Cup quarter-final win over Clermont last Friday week.
Andrew Conway comes in for his second start in place of Horgan, Eoin Reddan returns at scrumhalf, Stan Wright, Richardt Strauss and CJ van der Linde form a new frontrow, while Malcolm O’Kelly and Stephen Keogh come in as Leo Cullen and Jamie Heaslip are kept back on a strong bench. Shane Jennings captains the side.
Only two players have been asked to start both games, Stephen Keogh and centre Eoin O’Malley who, heretofore, has started three games.
Like Keogh, scrumhalf Paul O’Donohoe makes up for plenty of bench-warming this season. O’Donohoe made only his second start of five league appearances this season for Leinster against the Ospreys, and has been an unused replacement nine times. But the Clontarf man will be on the bench in Galway and – such is his all-round footballing ability – makes his first start at outhalf in Firhill. He was tried there for the Leinster As last season.
Conway, Ian Madigan and Simon Keogh also appear in both squads.
The team to play the Warriors, which will be captained by Bernard Jackman, features five academy players in the starting line-up, three of whom will be making their first competitive start for the province: fullback Ian Madigan (20), wing Michael Keating (20) and lock Ciarán Ruddock (20).
Alongside fully-contracted prop Jason Harris-Wright (21), the bench contains another six players from the academy. Five – or six, if Brendan Macken is chosen instead of his fellow Blackrock threequarter Kyle Tonetti – are in line for their senior competitive debuts off a bench whose average age will be 20 or under.
In an official Leinster release yesterday, Michael Cheika was quoted as saying: “Connacht are one of the most improved teams in Magners League this year and they are in a strong position to win the Amlin Challenge Cup – and are on the verge of qualifying for the Heineken Cup outright – so we’re under no illusion as to what kind of challenge we face this week.
“We made it very clear to each player that over these two games (Connacht and Glasgow) each player in the squad will have an opportunity to wear the blue shirt, and they will all relish the opportunity, I’m sure.
“For one thing, from a players’ point of view, they would prefer to play competitive matches at this time of the year than train.”
Leinster were indebted to a late Sexton drop goal for their 17-14 win over Connacht at the RDS last month, and Cheika added: “If we bring anything other than our A game to Galway then we will struggle.
“Every game between the two sides is a dogfight. They probably felt that they should have won the reverse fixture at the end of the March in the RDS, so they will look to target us again this week, as they always do.”
LEINSTER(v Connacht): G Dempsey; A Conway, B O'Driscoll, E O'Malley, I Nacewa; S Berne, E Reddan; S Wright, R Strauss, CJ van der Linde, N Hines, M O'Kelly, K McLaughlin, S Jennings (capt), Stephen Keogh. Replacements:J Fogarty, C Healy, L Cullen, J Heaslip, P O'Donohoe, I Madigan, Simon Keogh.
LEINSTER(v Glasgow Warriors): I Madigan; Simon Keogh, E O'Malley, F McFadden, M Keating; P O'Donohoe, C Keane; R McCormack, B Jackman (capt), M Ross, T Hogan, C Ruddock, R Ruddock, P Ryan, Stephen Keogh. Replacements:J Harris-Wright, J McGrath, M Flanagan, D Ryan, D Moore, K Tonetti/B Macken, A Conway.
