Rugby:Eoin Reddan and Fergus McFadden will return to the Leinster starting line-up with the Pro12 table toppers take on the Llanelli Scarlets tomorrow night. The Irish internationals are joined in the team by Dave Kearney, who was on the bench for Ireland against Wales but has yet to make his international bow.
In a further boost for coach Joe Schmidt, Dominic Ryan is named among the replacements after his lengthy lay-off with an ankle injury. Rhys Ruddock, who was on Ireland duty for the win over Treviso last weekend, comes into the backrow alongside skipper Kevin McLaughlin and Shane Jennings.
“We are pleased to welcome back a few of our internationals this week though their training time with us has been limited,” Schmidt explained today. “Having said that, the quality they bring will hopefully help us to keep some of the momentum from last week's Treviso second half.
“The Scarlets have proven that they can win on the road which makes them dangerous opponents. They play a direct and attacking style of rugby with a lot of speed and movement in their game. Nigel Davies has the team playing in a really positive manner after a tough start to the season and they now sit just outside the semi-final spots — further motivation for them to come to the RDS looking to add a further four points to get closer to play-off contention.”
The Scarlets have also included a numbner of internationals in their starting line-up for tomorrow night’s Pro12 match against Leinster. Stephen Jones, Scott Williams and Rhodri Jones have been released from the Welsh squad for the game at the RDS while Ben Morgan will start on the bench after making his debut for England against Italy.
“We’re going to the RDS with every intent to win the game and having the opportunity to welcome back a few fresh faces will give us a boost,” Scarlets coach Davies said today. “We know we have a lot of work to do from here on in. We’ve dropped off the standard a little bit and we’ve been disappointed in the last two performances against Sale and Glasgow.
“We’ve been very hard on ourselves this week but in saying that we are competitive in every aspect in the majority of our games and we just need to ensure that we get back to where we know we can be now on Friday evening.”
Leinster:I Nacewa, D Kearney, E O'Malley, F McFadden, F Carr; I Madigan, E Reddan; J McGrath, S Cronin, J Hagan; D Browne, D Toner; K McLaughlin, S Jennings, R Ruddock. Replacements:R Strauss, H van der Merwe, N White, L Auva'a, D Ryan, I Boss, N Reid, B Macken.
Scarlets:D Newton; L Williams, G Maule, S Williams, A Fenby, S Jones, TBC; R Jones, E Phillips, D Manu; S Timani, D Day; J Turnbull, J Edwards, K Murphy. Replacements:C Hawkins, P John, P Edwards, D Welch, B Morgan, L Davies, A Warren, V Iongi.
