Luke McGrath to lead Leinster A side

Worcester Warriors v Leinster A
Sixways Stadium, Friday, 7.45
Luke McGrath captains Leinster as they seek to return to the British and Irish Cup final. Interesting selections by academy chief Girvan Dempsey sees Ben Te'o continuing his schooling in all matters rugby union while Dan Leavy's recent run of games is another, potentially, significant occurrence.

Leavy was a sensational talent at schools and underage level. The team includes one Ireland international, Noel Reid, who partners Te’o in midfield.

Including McGrath, Reid and Leavy, there’s a remarkable seven former St Michael’s College players in the Leinster squad. The other four are Cian Kelleher, Cathal Marsh, Ross Molony and Royce Burke-Flynn.

This fixture comes at a difficult time as 12 Leinster players are named in the Ireland under-20s side that plays Wales in Colwyn Bay.

Only eight of the 23 who played on the A side that beat Leeds Carnegie (44-17) in last May’s B and I Cup final at Donnnybrook are playing.

They are Sam Coghlan Murray, Reid, Marsh, McGrath, Ben Marshall, Molony, Colm O’Shea and Bryan Byrne.

WARRIORS: P Humphreys; S Smith, A Grove, R Fatiaki, T Biggs; T Eden, JB Bruzulier; O Fainga'anuku, B Sowrey, J Rees; J Percival, D Sanderson; M Cox, M Gilbert, R de Carpentier. Replacements: D George, R Bower, M Daniels, H Taylor, J Arr, A Symons, D Hammond

LEINSTER A: C Kelleher; S Coghlan Murray, B Te'o, N Reid, M McGrath; C Marsh, L McGrath (capt); P Dooley, A Dundon, R Burke Flynn; R Molony, T Denton; B Marshall, D Leavy, P Timmins. Replacements: B Byrne, I Hirst, T Beirne, J Coghlan, C Rock, S Crosbie, C O'Shea.