Leinster Hold The Aces

Going into this game with an eleven point cushion Leinster hold all the aces and given the run-in they have, they finish with home and away games with the Dragons, the Magners title is theirs for the taking.

In Munster’s case, after this one today, they face the Ospreys in Cork, then must travel to Belfast just two days after the Heieneken Cup game against Saracens and then three days after that they are in Wales for the clash with Llanelli Scarlets.

There are no real surprises on the Munster selection with their changes from the Gloucester game seeing bench replacementds that day Peter Stringer, Mick O’Driscoll and Anthony Foley all return to the starting line-up along with Tony Buckley who replaced Marcus Horan in the minutes leading up to the kick-off in Kingsholm.

Not surprisingly Leinster will start without their captain Brian O’Driscoll and fellow centre Gordon D’Arcy with Luke Fitzgerald named at outside centre and fomer Munster pair Sephen Keogh and Trevor Hogan listed among the replacements.

Munster: D Hurley; D Howlett, L Mafi, R Tipoki, I Dowling; R O’Gara capt, P Stringer; T Buckley, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O’Callaghan, M O’Driscoll; A Quinlan, D leamy, A Foley. Replacements: F Sheahan, F Pucciariello, P O’Connell, N Ronan, T O’Leary, P Warwick, K Lewis.

Leinster: Girvan Dempsey; S Horgan, L Fitzgerald, F Contepomi, R Kearney; J Sexton, C Whitaker; O le Roux, B Jackman, S Wright; L Cullen capt., M O’Kelly, S Jennings; K Gleeson, J Heaslip.