News round-upGary Ella was never going to muzzle his Leinster Lions following one of their more impressive wins of the season over Biarritz Olympique last Saturday at Lansdowne Road.
After his first taste of Heineken European Cup victory, the determination of the Leinster coach to repeat the process this week was revealed yesterday in an unchanged side to face Cardiff Blues in Wales for the second match of the campaign.
Faith, too, in the bench has been retained, with the same seven travelling to The Arms Park for the first away match of the competition. Of those, Ella used six against Biarritz.
With the bonus point earned against the French and Leinster sitting on top of their group three, a point above Sale Sharks, who also opened with a win but failed to secure a bonus point, Ella looks to this internationally-laden team to deliver before most of them return to Irish duty and take up with Eddie O'Sullivan in Lanzarote on December 14th. As well as the usual suspects, David Quinlan, Gordon D'Arcy and Brian O'Riordan have been included in O'Sullivan's squad, bringing the Leinster contingent to 14 players.
Ella is looking at the overall strength of the Cardiff side but particularly at full back Rhys Williams and outside centre Jamie Robinson as two of the visitor's most dangerous players.
"This will be an interesting game against a very physical team," said Ella. "I'm sure they will come out against us with an attacking approach and that they will be aggressive in everything they do.
"They have a powerful back row and a strong scrum and I am sure they will be working on getting their lineout operating more effectively than last weekend while Rhys Williams and Jamie Robinson are major threats behind the scrum."
Leinster were badly beaten (22-3) when they played Cardiff in the Celtic League back in October, while the Welsh team went down narrowly to Sale by just two points last week. But Leinster have been significantly reinforced by the return of their World Cup players, two-try Shane Horgan back in the centre and clearly holding onto his good form on return from Australia.
"Against Sale they (Cardiff) played some good, controlled rugby and they will come out against us knowing the importance of winning their home games and then picking up something on the road," said Ella.
"I am happy with the bonus point from our first game. We played pretty well but there are a couple of things to work on this week - our defence was not as strong as it might have been but at least that is fixable."
Emmet Byrne, Matthew Leek and Aidan McCullen were not considered for the match due to injury, while captain at the start of the Celtic League, Leo Cullen, Irish winger Denis Hickie, Kieran Lewis, John Lyne, James Norton and Niall Treston are all long-term casualties.
LEINSTER (v Cardiff Blues): G Dempsey; J McWeeney, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, G D'Arcy; C Warner, B O'Meara; R Corrigan (capt), S Byrne, P Coyle, M O'Kelly, B Gissing, E Miller, K Gleeson, V Costello. Replacements: D Molloy, G Hickie, D Dillon, S Jennings, B O'Riordan, D Quinlan, B Burke.
