Kearney, McFadden back for Leinster
By Daire Walsh
There will be a mixture of youth and experience in Leinster’s Guinness Pro12 side tomorrow, as they welcome Newport Gwent Dragons to the RDS (3pm).
With 12 included in Joe Schmidt’s match-day squad for today’s Six Nations mission against France, it is no surprise to find just six starters from the European tie against London Wasps will don provincial colours.
However, Leinster are boosted by the return of Dave Kearney and Fergus McFadden to the back-three – where they will be joined by Darragh Fanning – following recent injury set-backs.
Jimmy Gopperth is at out-half for the fourth consecutive game and knows the champions must be at their best.
“When we played them last year down there, we got into a comfortable lead and gave them a bit of a sniff and they came right back at us,” Gopperth said. “Their form hasn’t been great in the Pro 12 but they’ve put together some great performances in the last month or so in Europe and in the LV Cup. They’re going to come here looking to turn us over and we’ve got to make sure we’re at our best.”
The absence of Eoin Reddan and Isaac Boss, through injury and international duty, gives Luke McGrath another chance to impress at scrum-half, while Ben Te’o also returns to partner Noel Reid in the centre.
Richardt Strauss, Kane Douglas, Dominic Ryan and Shane Jennings will offer a wealth of rugby knowledge to the Leinster pack, while returning Irish star Luke Fitzgerald and John Cooney (who has been briefly recalled from Connacht to provide scrum-half cover) are amongst the replacements.
LEINSTER: D Kearney; F McFadden, B Te’o, N Reid, D Fanning; J Gopperth, L McGrath; M Bent, R Strauss, T Furlong; T Denton, K Douglas; D Ryan, S Jennings, J Conan.
Replacements: A Dundon, P Dooley, J Hagan, M McCarthy, J Van Der Flier, J Cooney, C Marsh, L Fitzgerald.
NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS: J Tovey, T Prydie, P Leach, J Dixon, H Amos; D Jones, J Evans; O Evans, TR Thomas, B Harris; A Coombs, R Landman; J Thomas, N Cudd, N Crosswell.
Replacements: R Buckley, B Stankovich, D Way, I Gough, J Benjamin, R Rees, A Smith, M Pewtner.