FRIENDLY PREVIEW LEINSTER V WASPS:LEINSTER'S NEW coach Josef Schmidt will be better versed with the depth of his squad after tonight's pre-season blowout at the province's one-time home. His decision to plump for a relatively young team presents a huge opportunity to the tyros.
Leinster supporters will be delighted to see Luke Fitzgerald, captain for the night Seán O’Brien and Devin Toner fully recovered from injury, a scenario that also applies to Fergus McFadden, who starts on the bench.
South African Heinke van der Merwe makes his debut at loosehead prop while other summer recruits, Isaac Boss and 6ft 9in Argentine secondrow Mariano Galarza are named among the replacements.
The 23-year-old Puma – he played in the summer Tests against Scotland and France – has been signed on a six-month deal as both Leo Cullen and Kevin McLaughlin will miss a significant part of the early season.
Eoin Sheriff is very highly regarded with the squad while it’ll be interesting to see how the 6ft 4in Eamonn Sheridan and Eoin O’Malley gel as a centre partnership.
Ian Madigan and Paul O’Donohue are given a chance to direct affairs from halfback before Ian McKinley and Boss are handed game time at some point.
Wasps have opted for a similar mix of youth fleshed out by experienced players like Phil Vickery, Serge Betsen, Dave Walder and Richard Birkitt.
They possess two of the quickest wings in the game in Tom Varndell and summer signing from Saracens, Richard Haughton.
The English club has several front-line players among the replacements including England internationals Simon Shaw, Tom Rees, Tim Payne, Ron Webber and Riki Flutey amongst others. Wasps director of Rugby Tony Hanks said: “We are really looking forward to this fixture – putting a lot of hard work seen throughout the summer into practice.
“Leinster will be highly-competitive opponents and I think that is a great way for the squad to test themselves.
“We are fortunate to have depth in our squad which enables us to field some of our more experienced players whilst also rewarding our younger academy players like Jack Wallace, Sam Jones and Elliot Daly after impressing throughout the pre-season.”
LEINSTER:L Fitzgerald; D Kearney, E O'Malley, E Sheridan, I Nacewa; I Madigan, P O'Donohue; H van der Merwe, R Strauss, M Ross, T Hogan, D Toner, E Sheriff, P Ryan, S O'Brien (capt). Replacements: J Harris-Wright, J McGrath, S Wright, M Galarza, D Ryan, I Boss, I McKinley, F McFadden, B Marshall, M Keating, N Morris.
WASPS:J Wallace; R Haughton, B Jacobs, D Waldouck, T Varndell; Dave Walder, N Berry; Z Taulafo, T Lindsay, P Vickery, M Veale, R Birkett, W Matthews, S Betsen, J Hart. Replacements: R Webber, T Payne, B Broster, J Cannon, T Rees, J Simpson, R Flutey, C Wade, S Shaw, S Jones, E Daly, M Van Gisbergen.
Referee:J Lacey (Ireland)
