Kearney to make 100th Leinster appearance

Rugby – Team news:Rob Kearney will become the 17th Leinster player to make his 100th appearance for the province when he lines out against Edinburgh in the Magners League tomorrow night.

Kearney is named in his usual fullback position in a backline that includes fellow internationals, Brian O’Driscoll and Jonathan Sexton, who will make his first appearance of the season.

Up front skipper Shane Jennings forms a backrow partnership with Dominic Ryan and Stephen Keogh, who starts at number eight, while secondrow Devin Toner also makes his seasonal debut. Isaac Boss, Jamie Heaslip and Cian Healy are all named as replacements.

Coach Joe Schmidt is expecting something of a backlash on the Murrayfield trip as the Scottish outfit have yet to record a single league win from their three outings to date. Leinster for their part will want to bounce back from their defeat against newcomers Treviso last time out.

“It will be a tough trip to Edinburgh because they haven’t had a win yet and they’ll be desperate to (do so). They’re a good side with quality right across the board,” said Schmidt.

“As was demonstrated last week against Treviso, all teams have their quality and if you’re not accurate enough on the night then all of the games will tend to be in the balance. We were disappointed that we didn’t create a great platform to play from (against Treviso), particularly in the conditions which were consistent rain throughout.

“Our defence was something else for us to improve on and we didn’t quite dominate them in the collisions.”

The coach picked out Edinburgh’s pack and Chris Paterson’s accuracy with the boot as areas to target.

“They have a pretty tough pack and a solid set-piece. You have to have your discipline right because in Chris Paterson they have a very accurate kicker, kicking out of hand he’s very good as well. His counter-attack is also very strong.

“Tim Visser was named on the Magners League Dream Team last year and he has scored some very impressive tries – and I don’t think he’s finished yet either because he got a great one against Ulster last weekend beating four players down a five metre touchline.

“Across the board they’re pretty strong. Mike Blair obviously at nine is a great director of play. He’s a very good defender and a very competent all-round player so he’s someone we’ve got to keep an eye on this week.”

Given the late return from Italy last weekend, Leinster training was put back to Monday evening to give players greater turnaround and recovery time. Yesterday’s training session was the key workout of the week ahead of tomorrow’s game.

Schmidt was also full of praise for Kearney in reaching the centurion milestone in such a short space of time. “I’m new to Leinster but to become the 17th Leinster centurion at such a young age, when there’s so much more upside to come, is a great achievement,” he added.

“He’s a genuine athlete as well as a highly skilled player. Him being back on the field for us on Saturday night was a real positive and I think that he’ll get more and more comfortable and hopefully add more to our game.”

Munster also travel to Scotland for tomorrow’s game against Glasgow at Firhill with David Wallace to make a welcome return at openside. Wallace is joined in the backrow by Denis Leamy, who was a late withdrawal with a rib injury ahead of last week’s win over the Ospreys.

Darragh Hurley is named as a replacement in place of John Hayes who has a back strain. Damien Varley takes over from the injured Denis Fogarty with Academy hooker Sean Henry, impressive in the A Interprovincial game against Ulster last Friday, his back up.

Injuries to Felix Jones and Ian Dowling have forced a reshuffle in the backs with Paul Warwick starting at fullback and Johne Murphy, operating at outside centre up to now, reverting to the wing. Lifeimi Mafi returns to the centre after being sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Leinster team (v Edinburgh):
R Kearney, S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, L Fitzgerald, J Sexton, E Reddan, H van der Merwe, R Strauss, M Ross, E O'Donoghue, D Toner, D Ryan, S Jennings (capt), S Keogh . Replacements:J Harris-Wright, C Healy, S Shawe, M Galarza, J Heaslip, I Boss, I Nacewa, E O'Malley

Munster team (v Glasgow):
P Warwick; D Howlett, L Mafi, S Tuitupou, J Murphy; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; M Horan, D Varley, T Buckley; D O'Callaghan, D Ryan; D Wallace, N Ronan, D Leamy (capt). Replacements:S Henry, W du Preez, Darragh Hurley, M O'Driscoll, J Coughlan, P Stringer, S Deasy, D Hurley