Leinster v Cardiff:IT HAS been a week of conflicting emotions in the Kearney household. Rob's back goes under the knife and Dave returns to the Leinster starting team for the first time since last season's Pro 12 final.
His 40th match for Leinster is timely, himself and Fergus McFadden on the wings representing Leinster’s youthful future bookending the two Trojans in the centre, Gordon D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll, for their early evening match against Cardiff.
Joe Schmidt will probably have a look at Rhys Ruddock, who also returns to the bench for the first time this season. Leinster have put out a strong team and although Schmidt has occasionally had to patch the side together, Leinster have lost just twice this season in all competitions.
Devin Toner locks down at secondrow alongside captain Leo Cullen with Ireland-bound hooker Richardt Strauss named in the frontrow alongside international props Cian Healy and Mike Ross. The nationality shift for Strauss makes this an all-Irish team and you have to think hard about when that last happened.
Elsewhere, Jordi Murphy comes in at blindside with Kevin McLaughlin and Jamie Heaslip forming the backrow, while Shane Jennings is rested for the weekend.
Cardiff arrive with a decent side and will target the breakdown against the multi-faceted home side. Jason Tovey and Scott Andrews are among four changes following their 14-22 Heineken Cup home defeat to Toulon last week.
In outhalf Jonathan Sexton Cardiff will see a Jonny Wilkinson-type figure. Wilkinson scored all but five points of Toulon’s scores last week, Wales fullback Leigh Halfpenny accounting for all of Cardiff’s total with a try and three penalties.
Tovey starts at outhalf in place of Ceri Sweeney for his second start for the Blues, while Dafydd Hewitt replaces centre Gavin Evans, who suffered a knock last week. In the pack Scott Andrews replaces the injured Benoit Bourrust in the frontrow and lock James Down is preferred to Lou Reed.
Cardiff last beat Leinster at home in March 2004 and have fallen to back-to-back defeats to Ulster and Glasgow and while the sum of their parts hasn’t quite added up, they have quality running through the team in Halfpenny, Alex Cuthbert, Jamie Roberts, Lloyd Williams, Bradley Davies and Sam Warburton.
“Their kicking game is well established, their set-piece and their ability to be direct is well established, as is their wide game,” said Cardiff director of rugby Phil Davies.
“So they’ve got a pretty much all round game. That is what you need, to be as successful as they’ve been in Europe over the last three or four years.”
Given Leinster have intermittently reached the peaks when they have needed to and the match is in Dublin, there is enough punch in this side to take the points.
LEINSTER: I Madigan; D Kearney, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, F McFadden; J Sexton, E Reddan; C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross; L Cullen, D Toner; K McLoughlin, J Murphy, J Heaslip. Replacements: S Cronin, H van der Merwe, J Hagan, D Browne, R Ruddock, I Boss, B Macken, F Carr.
CARDIFF: L Halfpenny; A Cuthbert, D Hewitt, J Roberts, T James; J Tovey, L Williams; T Filise, M Breeze, S Andrews; B Davies, J Down; J Navidi, S Warburton, A Pistorius (c). Replacements: R Williams, N Trevett, C Ma'afu, L Reed, R Copeland, L Jones, C Sweeney, T Williams.
Referee: Ian Davies(WRU).
Verdict: Leinster.
