Eric Miller comes into the Leinster side to face Connacht as an openside flanker tomorrow for his first start since he picked up a long-term injury against Munster on October 9th.
Miller joins the dynamic Jamie Heaslip, who has been impressing at number eight, and Keith Gleeson, who was yesterday named Bank of Scotland Leinster player of the month.
That is, of course, an honour, but Leinster have played only one competitive game this month as Ireland faced into their three autumn internationals against New Zealand, Australia and Romania. The team's last competitive outing was against Edinburgh Gunners on November 11th, one in which they were roundly beaten 13-27.
Miller, however, did play for an hour in a recent friendly game against Oxford University and came through without trouble. With Ciarán Potts injured, the selection process was a lot smoother than it might have been for coach Michael Cheika, who philosophically looks at this weekend's game.
"You might always think about the week after, but really you can only deal with this week first. It is important for us to win this weekend.
"We could get injuries and in that event we just sit down and look at what we've got," said Cheika yesterday.
Miller is joined by Guy Easterby at scrumhalf. It will be Easterby's first start since he broke his jaw against Ulster in October, although he did feature in the Edinburgh game for 20 minutes.
He is partnered by captain Felipe Contepomi, and outside the Argentinian a pacy looking backline of Rob Kearney on the wing, Shane Horgan and Gordon D'Arcy inside and Kieran Lewis on the other flank.
"Eric had a good 60 minutes against Oxford. He was happy with it and got a bit of confidence out of it and as a result so did we," said Cheika.
"Sure, there are always match fitness issues when a player has been out of the game for so long. But we've good options on the bench. I use the bench a fair bit anyway so there's no worry there.
"Guy Easterby came on in the Edinburgh game. We had a dedicated programme for getting him back and we've ample cover in that respect.
"He was on a role before he picked up the injury. I've been impressed with the way he has improved himself and I've been very happy with the way he has been working on his game."
The Connacht game precedes Leinster's pivotal double header Heineken European Cup series against French side Bourgoin.
The first home game on December 12th is followed by the away match on December 16th. Having lost to Bath in the opening Pool Five game, before beating Glasgow in Scotland, Cheika needs a win over Connacht, but even more so a win against Bourgoin in the RDS is a must for cup survival.
In the frontrow, former Connacht hooker Bernard Jackman scrums down between last season's Leinster captain, Reggie Corrigan, and Will Green, with Ben Gissing and Bryce Williams filling the lock positions.
Elsewhere, the All-Ireland League Division Two match between Malone and Bective Rangers has been postponed due to the funeral of Manchester United and Northern Ireland soccer star George Best. The decision was taken by both clubs.
The house where Best grew up is quite near to the Malone grounds, and as a mark of respect it was felt that a game of rugby taking place at the same time as the funeral may have been seen as inappropriate.
When Best passed his 11 plus examination, he went to Grosvenor Grammar School, which is a rugby-playing school, but he tired of the grammar boys and left for the local school at Newtownbreda, which played soccer.
In Munster, Paul O'Connell is not expected to return to rugby until, probably, after Christmas. The Irish secondrow has had the plaster removed from around the broken bone in his hand but retains a splint.
While he is able to engage in aerobic activity with the squad, his participation in Munster sessions is heavily curtailed.
