Edinburgh v Leinster, Hive Stadium
(KO: 7.35pm, Live TG4 and Premier Sport)
A blended team will kick off Leinster’s bid to win their first United Rugby Championship (URC) since 2021, the range of age and experience highlighted by hooker Gus McCarthy making his first start and Cian Healy lined up on the bench to equal Devin Toner’s club record with his 280th appearance.
As ever there is a vein of international players running though the side with young Sam Prendergast starting at outhalf, with the seasoned scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park again fit after missing the summer trip to South Africa with Ireland with a hamstring injury.
Jamie Osborne, Garry Ringrose, Jordan Larmour, James Ryan and captain Jack Conan provide more Test match experience as Leinster face into a fast synthetic pitch and international wingers on each of Edinburgh’s flanks, with Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe at the cutting edge of the home side’s attack. Right wing Tommy O’Brien and Larmour on Leinster’s left will have their hands full there.
Leinster have some scar tissue to deal with as they travelled to Scotland last season to fall in Glasgow 43-25 in their first-round game. There is a premium in gaining early points when it comes to team ranking for home and away matches towards the end of the competition.
An away semi-final in South Africa, which Leinster earned last season, ended in defeat at the hands of the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria. That is what they hope to avoid this time by putting points on the board in the opening weekends.
“I think it’s a great challenge for especially the younger kind of cohort of lads to go into a difficult environment away with a close crowd,” said Conan. “It feels like they’re on the pitch. When you’re playing on the astro – it’s a quick style of rugby they like to play a lot. You saw the weekend just gone, they played against Gloucester and had a lot of internationals playing, so it’s going to be a massive step up from what we’ve done in the last few weeks.”
This week is no different, and as well as the Scottish wingers, Ali Price at scrumhalf, Pierre Shoeman in the front row, captain Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Richie and Hamish Watson make for a grizzled Edinburgh side, not unlike Leinster with a spine of Test match players.
Former Munster outhalf Ben Healy, who travelled with Scotland to the World Cup last year, will start on the bench, with the capped Ross Thompson partnering Price.
Abrasive former Waratah’s centre Moses Tuipulotu teams up with Matt Currie, who is a newly minted international, earning his first Scotland caps during the recent summer test window.
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The fast game should not bother Leinster, and as Conan said on Monday they do not want to slowly feel their way into the season but hit high marks from the beginning. “So, you know, we’ll be thinking about starting fast and ripping into the game and into the season.”
Ringrose is the senior partner with Charlie Tector in the centre, with a less well known frontrow of Michael Milne, Gus McCarthy and Thomas Clarkson starting.
Injured Irish hooker Dan Sheehan is not around until February, but with Healy loaded for the record, French prop Rabah Slimani poised to make his first URC appearance in a Leinster shirt and Belfast-born hooker John McKee looking for a run, the low numbers will be game but can expect a tough outing. Edinburgh’s frontrow of Scotland hooker Dave Cherry, Scotland prop Schoeman, and England prop Paul Hill will make sure of that.
But Leinster have a fresh look about them, and Conan in as captain is looking forward to playing in a season-opening game for the first time in years. A calf injury kept him back during pre-season but the timing has been good, and he is better now than he was last season with niggles carried over from the World Cup.
“When I got injured again, it gave me, like, four or six weeks to just focus to get it right. So I’m not kind of bringing it into the new season, which is great,” said Conan. “I did a lot of work with Emma, who’s a world class physio. She has a huge background in athletics. And I wouldn’t be the best mover at times with how I run, so she fixed up a lot of things for me. And, you know, end up hitting PB speeds that I’ve never hit before, which is not bad for someone my age. So I think it’s done me well.”
Among the big names missing for Leinster are James Lowe, Caelan Doris, Tadhg Furlong, Andrew Porter, Joe McCarthy, Josh van der Flier and RG Synman, who is recovering from a foot injury.
Edinburgh: Wes Goosen; Darcy Graham, Mosese Tuipulotu, Matt Currie, Duhan van der Merwe; Ross Thompson, Ali Price; Pierre Schoeman, Dave Cherry, Paul Hill, Marshall Sykes, Grant Gilchrist ©, Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson, Ben Muncaster. Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Boan Venter, D’Arcy Rae, Jamie Hodgson, Magnus Bradbury, Ben Vellacott, Ben Healy, Emiliano Boffelli
Leinster: Jamie Osborne; Tommy O’Brien, Garry Ringrose, Charlie Tector, Jordan Larmour; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Michael Milne, Gus McCarthy, Thomas Clarkson, Conor O’Tighearnaigh, James Ryan, Max Deegan, Scott Penny, Jack Conan ©. Replacements: John McKee, Cian Healy, Rabah Slimani, Brian Deeny, James Culhane, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Rob Russell.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
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