Celtic League Preview: A place has been left vacant on the Leinster wing for either Ross McCarron or Blackrock teenager Luke Fitzgerald for the province's first outing in the Magners Celtic League in Murrayfield against Edinburgh.
It's not like Leinster to tantalise but the prospect of Fitzgerald leaving school in May and lining out for a Leinster start in the league three months later is a bit Boy's Own and leaves nobody in any doubt about just how highly the youngster is rated.
With Edinburgh more out of the Irish public eye and therefore slightly less daunting a starting point than Donnybrook, it makes sense for one of the two inexperienced players to line out.
The son of former Irish international prop Des, Fitzgerald has been regarded as one of the foremost backs of his age in the country. On a full-time contract with Leinster, he lined out against London Irish for a phase of the three 30-minute segments two weeks ago.
Despite being a vital cog in the Blackrock school side, Fitzgerald broke his collar bone before Christmas last year and only returned as a substitute in his school's Senior Cup quarter-final match. He was also unavailable for this year's Under-19 World Cup because of Leaving Cert commitments, so has less mileage in the legs than might be perceived.
A more mainstream selection,Kieran Lewis will earn his 50th Leinster cap against Edinburgh. But perhaps the more pressing thought in coach Michael Cheika's head is whether Leinster will perform better than they did against London Irish.
While that match was fractured and uneven, due to a large extent to the number of substitutions from both teams, Cheika will have some concern over the effectiveness of his lineouts. Despite significant work being done in the run-in to the Exiles match, the Leinster set piece was pretty shocking.
But a fortnight is a long time in pre-season and for today's meeting, Fitzgerald and McCarron aside, Cheika has brought six new faces into the team in an effort to steady the ship, hopefully make a better impression this time round and re-introduce the attractive running game that made Leinster a stand-out team to watch last season.
Shorn of the Irish national squad members, six players make their competitive debuts. Inside centre Michael Berne partners Lewis, while former Australian scrumhalf Chris Whittaker joins captain Felipe Contepomi in the halfbacks. Leinster also select hooker Harry Vermass, and behind him a brand new second row in Trevor Hogan and Australian veteran Owen Finnegan. In the back row, which already looks like it could become an effective unit, Stephen Keogh also starts alongside Niall Ronan at open side and Jamie Heaslip at number eight. A question mark remains over the reserve prop, with Johnny Wickham on stand-by in case Reggie Corrigan fails to recover from a knock.
"It's important that we start the first part of the season strongly," said Cheika. "We lost our first game of last season against the Ospreys and it's important that we improve. Though we have introduced new players, the core of last year's squad is there.
"We're looking to lift our standards and we're conscious that we're a week behind the other teams so the basics of our game, as pro-footballers, has got to be strong."
For Edinburgh, Scottish prop Craig Smith returns in the only starting change the home side make from last week, where, in defeat, they earned a bonus point in Liberty Stadium.
But their interim head coach Henry Edwards sees the Leinster game as a chance for their first win.
"The challenge now is for players to rectify things and put in a performance that ends in victory against Leinster," he said.
"This is a great opportunity as Leinster are resting players."
Over to you Mr Cheika.
Edinburgh v Leinster
Murrayfield 7.30pm On TV: Setanta 7.00
EDINBURGH GUNNERS: H Southwell; C Paterson (c), M Di Rollo, R Dewey, S Webster; P Godman, M Blair; R Rennie, A Hogg, A Strokosch, S Murray, M Mustchin, C Smith, D Hall, A Jacobsen. Replacements: A Kelly, A Dickinson, F Pringle, D Callam, G Laidlaw, D Hodge, B Cairns.
LEINSTER: R Kearney; G Brown, K Lewis, M Berne, AN Other; F Contepomi (captain), C Whitaker; J Heaslip, N Ronan, S Keogh, O Finegan, T Hogan, W Green, H Vermaas, R McCormack. Replacements: AN Other, B Jackman, A Byrnes, S O'Brien, G Easterby, C Warner, AN Other.
Referee: Nigel Owen (WRU)
Previous meetings - (Sep 03) Leinster 30, Edinburgh 33; (Feb 04) Edinburgh 40, Leinster 34; (Oct 04) Leinster 35, Edinburgh 13; (Feb 05) Edinburgh 41, Leinster 33; (Nov 05) Leinster 13, Edinburgh 27; (May 06) Edinburgh 8, Leinster 31.
Leading points scorers: Edinburgh - C Paterson 4pts; Leinster none.
Leading try scorers: Edinburgh none; Leinster none.Forecast: Edinburgh win
