Rugby - squad news: While the likes of Brian O'Driscoll, Rob Kearney and Jamie Heaslip remain out of the picture, fellow Irish internationals Girvan Dempsey and Gordon D'Arcy have been named in the Leinster squad for Friday night's trip to the Ospreys.
D’Arcy and fellow British & Irish Lion Nathan Hines made their first appearances of the season last weekend and, along with Eoin Reddan, will be pushing for a starting role at the Liberty Stadium.
The big-name Ospreys, crestfallen after their surprise defeat to Ulster last Saturday, will hope to exact a measure of revenge against the Irish province and Leinster defence coach Kurt McQuilkin is expecting a tough encounter.
“The Ospreys are an outstanding with speed, power and skill across their pack and backline,” he said today. “In (Jerry) Collins, (Filo) Tiatia and Ryan Jones they have a really physical back-row presence who will come right up at you in midfield.
“Then take someone like Mike Phillips who is a key man for them. He likes to probe around the fringes and is another big presence and with players of the calibre of Jonny Vaughton, Tommy Bowe and Shane Williams out wide they have serious pace which we will need to contend with.
“Even though they will have been disappointed with their defeat to Ulster last time out, they remain serious contenders for the title and we know that we will need to raise our performance levels to get a result. It just shows how wide open the competition is this year.”
Tony McGahan named the same extended Munster squad as last week ahead of their away trip to face the Scarlets at Parc Y Scarlets on Saturday (kick-off 6.30pm).
McGahan will name his starting XV after Thursday morning's training session in Limerick.
There will also be a press briefing on Thursday at Cork International Airport Hotel to introduce new South African signing Jean de Villiers.
Ulster, meanwhile, welcome back flanker Stephen Ferris to their panel for their first home game of the season.
Ferris has not played since being invalided out of the Lions tour in the summer but is now back available having missed last weekend under the IRFU’s Rugby Word Cup player management programme.
Paddy Wallace and Andrew Trimble, also rested against the Ospreys under the new directive, are both named in the initial selection.
Leinster squad:Leo Cullen, John Fogarty, Jason Harris-Wright, Cian Healy, Nathan Hines, Bernard Jackman, Shane Jennings, Stephen Keogh, Ronan McCormack, Kevin McLaughlin, Sean O'Brien, Malcolm O'Kelly, Mike Ross, Devin Toner, Stan Wright, Shaun Berne, Gordon D'Arcy, Girvan Dempsey, Shane Horgan, Chris Keane, David Kearney, Simon Keogh, Fergus McFadden, Isa Nacewa, Paul O'Donohoe, Eoin Reddan, Jonathan Sexton
Munster squad:Danny Barnes, Felix Jones, Scott Deasy, Denis Hurley, Doug Howlett, Barry Murphy, Tom Gleeson, Lifeimi Mafi, Jeremy Manning, Toby Morland, Peter Stringer, Marcus Horan, Tony Buckley, Julian Brugnaut, John Hayes, Denis Fogarty, Damian Varley, Mick O'Driscoll, Donnacha Ryan, Alan Quinlan, Billy Holland, Tommy O'Donnell, Niall Ronan, Denis Leamy, James Coughlan
Ulster squad:Nigel Brady, Thomas Anderson, Brendon Botha, Bryan Young, Ed O'Donoghue, Andi Kyriacou, Stephen Ferris, Neil McComb, Robbie Diack, Chris Henry, Willie Faloon, Timaiti Horua, Tom Court, Declan Fitzpatrick, Timoci Nagusa, Darren Cave, Simon Danielli, Ian Whitten, Isaac Boss, Ian Humphreys, Andrew Trimble, Paddy Wallace, Cillian Willis, Clinton Schifcofske
