Rugby – team news:Ireland stars Brian O'Driscoll and Jonny Sexton have been included in the Leinster starting XI for their first competitive home game of the season, the Magners League clash against Cardiff Blues at the RDS on Saturday evening (6.30pm).
O’Driscoll fills his customary outside centre berth, with Eoin O’Malley moving to the bench. Sexton takes over at outhalf from Isa Nacewa, who moves to the left wing in place of Niall Morris.
Ireland star Shane Jennings returns to captain the side from the openside flank, with Seán O’Brien moving back to blindside, with Jamie Heaslip at number eight. It means Dominic Ryan, who impressed in the defeat to Glasgow last week has to settle for a place on the bench.
The other chance in the pack sees Mike Ross return from a calf injury and he starts at tighthead prop, with Simon Shawe dropping to the bench.
Cían Healy and Eoin Reddan are included on the bench for the first time this season.
Meanwhile, Alan Quinlan will make his first start of the season against Edinburgh tomorrow evening with Ronan O’Gara, Donncha O’Callaghan and Tomás O’Leary all held in reserve.
Quinlan’s inclusion, which sees Donnacha Ryan move to the secondrow and Billy Holland make way, is the only change Tony McGahan has made from the side that overcame Aironi on the opening weekend of the Magners League.
McGahan intends springing the likes of O’Gara, O’Callaghan and O’Leary from the bench at Murrayfield while fellow internationals Marcus Horan and John Hayes could also see some action.
Having relinquished their Magners League title last year, and with their form away from home less than stellar, McGahan is determined to pick up some points in the Scottish capital.
“As this competition has evolved it’s become harder and harder to win away from home,” McGahan said today. “Last year, I think the best away form was that of Ospreys who won three, two of those coming at the back-end against ourselves and Ulster. Leinster won twice on the road. You look at sides who don’t finish at the top, they’re still very difficult to turn over in their own ground.
“One of our big things this year is addressing our form on the road. If you want to do really well in this competition you need to. To that end, you need a strong focus. You have to take into account that things aren’t going to go your way. That’s the reality of it but you need to deal with it and get on with. So this weekend’s game is about addressing that.”
Connacht coach Eric Elwood has yet to finalise his side to face the Llanelli Scarlets but, with a number of injury concerns hanging over the squad, has drafted Darragh Fanning and Shane Conneely in his 25-man panel.
Having suffered defeat against Bennetton Treviso last weekend, Elwood is expecting the Welsh franchise to come out fighting at Parc y Scarlets.
“You have to expect a backlash and with our record over their they will probably be expecting to win by five points,” he explained . “Conversely we are looking to improve our away form, we have set ourselves a good target for this week, that’s the challenge and we’re looking forward to it”
Leinster (v Cardiff):Luke Fitzgerald; Shane Horgan, Brian O'Driscoll, Fergus McFadden, Isa Nacewa; Jonathan Sexton, Isaac Boss; Heinke van der Merwe, Richardt Strauss, Mike Ross; Nathan Hines, Ed O'Donoghue; Seán O'Brien, Shane Jennings (capt), Jamie Heaslip. Replacements: John Fogarty, Cían Healy, Simon Shawe, Mariano Galarza, Dominic Ryan, Eoin Reddan, Ian Madigan, Eoin O'Malley.
Munster (v Edinburgh):F Jones; D Howlett, J Murphy, S Tuitupou, I Dowling; P Warwick, P Stringer; W du Preez, D Varley, T Buckley; D Ryan, M O'Driscoll; A Quinlan, N Ronan, D Leamy. Replacements: D Fogarty, M Horan, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, P O'Mahony, T O'Leary, R O'Gara, D Barnes.
Connacht squad (v Scarlets):Ronan Loughney, Brett Wilkinson, Sean Cronin, Adrian Flavin, Rob Sweeney, Jamie Hagan, Dave Nolan, Michael Swift, Bernie Upton, Michael McCarthy, Ray Ofisa, Mike McComish, Shane Conneely; Cillian Willis, Frank Murphy, Miah Nikora, Ian Keatley, Fionn Carr, Keith Matthews, Niva Taauso, Tiernan OHalloran, Aidan Wynne, Troy Nathan, Gavin Duffy, Darragh Fanning.