Leinster have made five changes for Friday’s Celtic League encounter with Llanelli from the side that beat Glasgow 39-11 last week, while Malcolm O’Kelly has sufficiently recovered from his Lions excursions Down Under to be named on the replacements.
An all new backrow sees Aidan McCullen, Liam Toland and a return from injury Eric Miller, come in for Trevor Brennan, Keith Gleeson and Victor Costello respectively. Brennan drops to the bench, while, Gleeson and Costello are both rested.
In the backs, Peter McKenna gets the nod ahead of Girvan Dempsey, who, moves to the bench, while John McWeeney makes a welcome return on the right wing in place of Denis Hickie, who is also rested.
None of the changes are enforced and as coach Matt Williams explained, it’s a case of trying to strike a balance: " We’ve got three games in seven days, so it’s not just a case of resting players but giving everyone a chance to show their wares. There’s a lot of competition for places," he said.
"We want to give everyone a run. Unlike Munster, we’ve had a low-key pre-season build up and last week was our first full 80 minutes of the season. We don’t want to peak to early. That’ll come in about six weeks when the European Cup kicks in," he added.
Williams hopes to give O’Kelly a 15-minute run out on Friday so as to just, "welcome him home".
Leinster’s only injury worry is scrumhalf Brian O’Meara who suffered a bruised thigh against Glasgow. He’ll be looked at the morning of the Llanelli game to ascertain his match readiness. If unfit, new signing Ben Willis will move up from the bench and O’ Meara’s kicking duties will be taken over by 21-year-old Andy Dunne.
Another new signing, outhalf Nathan Spooner, will get his chance on Tuesday against Ebbw Vale. Spooner has been suffering from a bruised elbow and hasn’t started as more of precautionary measure than as an outright injury.
Leinster Team to Face Llanllei on Friday, August 24th.
15 Peter McKenna; 14 John McWeeney, 13 Adam Magro, 12 Shane Horgan, 11 Gordan D’arcy; 10 Andy Dunne, 9 Brian O’Meara; 1 Reg Corrigan (Capt), 2 Shane Byrne, 3 Peter Coyle; 4 Bob Casey, 5 Leo Cullen, 6 Aidan McCullen, 7 Liam Toland, 8 Eric Miller.
Replacements:16, Niall Treston, 17 Gavin Hickie, 18 Malcolm O'Kelly, 19 Trevor Brennan, 20 Ben Willis, 21 David Quinlan, 22 Girvan Dempsey.
Llanelli Team:
15 Barry Davie; 14 Wayne Proctor, 13 Neil Boobyer, 12 Leigh Davies, 11 Salesi Finav; 10 Stephen Jones (Capt), 9 Guy Easterby,; 1 Martyn Malden, 2 Mervyn Thomas, 3 John Davies; 4 Luke Gross, 5 Graig Gilles; 6 Simon Easterby, 7 Ian Boobyer, 8 David Hodgis.