Leinster vs Ulster (8pm kick-off), live on RTÉ and Premier Sports
Leinster have opted to rest the majority of their Ireland contingent for Saturday evening’s interpro against Ulster at the RDS.
Of the province's players who saw game time under Andy Farrell in the Autumn Nations Series, only Tadhg Furlong and Robbie Henshaw are named to start. Henshaw starts at 13 as Ciarán Frawley, who was in the Ireland squad but did not make his debut, gets the nod at inside centre.
After making an appearance off the bench in the win over Argentina, Harry Byrne once again starts among the replacements as his brother Ross is named starting outhalf.
Luke McGrath captains the side in the absence of the injured Johnny Sexton, while Jimmy O’Brien, Adam Byrne and Jordan Larmour form the backthree.
In the pack, Ed Byrne makes his 75th appearance for the province alongside James Tracy and Furlong in the frontrow. Devin Toner and Ross Molony form the secondrow pairing while Dan Leavy makes an appearance in the six shirt. He is joined in the backrow by Scott Penny at openside and Rhys Ruddock at number eight.
Vakh Abdaladze and Will Connors are both named on the bench and will hope to make their first appearances of the season.
Seán Cronin, Peter Dooley, Max Deegan, Nick McCarthy and Tommy O’Brien make up the remaining replacements. No specialist secondrow is named on the bench.
Ulster for their part welcome back James Hume and Stuart McCloskey from the Ireland setup straight into their starting midfield.
John Cooney and Billy Burns are the halfbacks, with Nathan Doak on the bench. Michael Lowry offers another playmaking option at fullback.
Alan O’Connor captains the side from secondrow, while Nick Timoney starts in the backrow fresh off his subsitute appearance against Argentina. He lines up alongside Greg Jones and David McCann.
Leinster: Jimmy O'Brien; Adam Byrne, Robbie Henshaw, Ciarán Frawley, Jordan Larmour; Ross Byrne Luke McGrath (capt); Ed Byrne, James Tracy, Tadhg Furlong; Ross Molony, Devin Toner; Dan Leavy, Scott Penny, Rhys Ruddock.
Replacements: Seán Cronin, Peter Dooley, Vakh Abdaladze, Max Deegan, Will Connors, Nick McCarthy, Harry Byrne, Tommy O'Brien.
Ulster: Mike Lowry; Craig Gilroy, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Ethan McIlroy; Billy Burns, John Cooney; Andrew Warwick, Rob Herring, Marty Moore; Alan O'Connor (capt), Sam Carter; Greg Jones, Nick Timoney, David McCann.
Replacements: Tom Stewart, Eric O'Sullivan, Ross Kane, Mick Kearney, Marcus Rea, Nathan Doak, Angus Curtis, Rob Lyttle.
