Rugby:Gordon D'Arcy will become only the second Leinster player to make 200 appearances for the province when he takes the field at Thomond Park tomorrow night for the RaboDirect Pro12 game against Munster.
There is an apposite sense of timing given that earlier this week, the man who achieved that particular landmark first, Shane Horgan, unfortunately had to announce his retirement from the sport with a knee injury.
D’Arcy, 32, made his provincial debut away to Edinburgh in September 1998 and to date he has scored 306 points in Leinster colours (55 tries, five penalties, four drop goals and two 2 conversions) over 14 seasons. He will link up at centre with Brian O’Driscoll who successfully came through his first appearance of the season against the Ospreys last weekend.
Luke Fitzgerald has also achieved a notable milestone in becoming the province’s 18th player to reach the 100-cap mark and he forms a back three alongside Isa Nacewa (who makes his 96th appearance) and the returning Rob Kearney.
Jamie Heaslip has been chosen to lead the team in a backrow containing Kevin McLaughlin and Shane Jennings. Sean O’Brien starts on the bench where he is joined by club captain Leo Cullen, Cian Healy and a fit again Jamie Hagan. Sean Cronin will start at hooker.
Meanwhile Munster make six changes, from the side that started against Connacht, four of those relating to returning internationals Keith Earls, Donncha O’Callaghan, Peter O’Mahony and Ronan O’Gara; the latter captains the side.
Marcus Horan is preferred at loosehead prop to Wian du Preez while Johne Murphy moves from the outside centre berth he operated from in Galway, to the right wing. Paul O’Connell, Donnacha Ryan and Conor Murray were not considered due to injury while David Wallace is still easing his way back to full match fitness.
Ryan – he looks to be on course for next weekend’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Ulster – took a limited part in training yesterday while a specialist cleared O’Connell and Murray to return to practice next week.
Mick O’Driscoll and Donncha O’Callaghan form a secondrow partnership for just the third time this season. O’Callaghan admitted: “These are the games that everyone wants to be involved in. They’re what make the dark and dirty nights of winter training so worthwhile.
“And they’re great occasions. There’s always that bit of a bigger buzz ahead of the Leinster game. It’ll be a massive game for us. They’re the form side, a real good side and they’ll have all their big boys back so we'll really have to produce something special if we’re to get anything out of this.”
Munster:F Jones; J Murphy, K Earls, L Mafi, S Zebo; R O'Gara (capt), T O'Leary; M Horan, D Varley, BJ Botha; D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll; Dave O'Callaghan, P O'Mahony, J Coughlan. Replacements: M Sherry, W du Preez, S Archer, B Holland, T O'Donnell, D Williams, I Keatley, D Barnes.
Leinster:R Kearney; I Nacewa, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, E Reddan; H van der Merwe, S Cronin, M Ross; B Thorn, D Toner; K McLaughlin, S Jennings, J Heaslip (capt). Replacements: R Strauss, C Healy, J Hagan, L Cullen, S O'Brien, I Boss, I Madigan, F McFadden.
