Sexton ruled out for Leinster

Rugby – Team news:Jonathan Sexton's first appearance of the season will have to wait a little longer after the Leinster outhalf was ruled out of tonight's Magners League game against Edinburgh at Murrayfield (kick-off 7.05pm).

Sexton was initially included in Joe Schmidt’s line-up but was withdrawn today to allow him to fully recover from the minor quad strain he suffered prior to the game against Cardiff. Ian Madigan will take his place in the match day 23.

Elsewhere Connacht coach Eric Elwood named an unchanged line-up while his Ulster counterpart Brian McLaughlin has made four changes ahead of tomorrow night’s Magners League encounter at the Sportsground (7.30pm).

Elwood opted for the same team who defeated Glasgow last weekend as the western province look to build on two wins from their opening three games. Elwood made one change to the bench with Darragh Fanning coming in for Tiernan O’Halloran.

Ulster present a stern challenge as they too have started the new campaign well with three wins from three to lie second in the table behind Munster, who take on Glasgow in Firhill this evening (7.30pm).

McLaughlin has rotated some of the pack with Rory Best to captain the side from hooker where he will be joined in the frontrow by Young and Court. Johann Muller and Robbie Diack have been left out which means recent signings Tim Barker and Pedrie Wannenburg coming into the starting line-up.

Dan Tuohy returns from injury and takes his place on the bench for the first time this season.

In the only change to the backline from last week’s win over Edinburgh, Paddy Wallace will make his first start at outhalf with Niall O’Connor moving to the bench.

Connacht team (v Ulster): B Wilkinson, S Cronin, J Hagan, M Swift, B Upton, M McCarthy, R Ofisa, M McComish, F Murphy (Capt), I Keatley, F Carr, K Matthews, N Ta'auso, T Nathan, G Duffy

Replacements:A Flavin, R Loughney, R Sweeney, A Browne, S Conneely, C Willis, M Nikora, D Fanning

Ulster team (v Connacht):J Smith, P Emerick, D Cave, I Whitten, A Trimble, P Wallace, P Marshall, B Young, R Best (Capt), T Court, T Barker; R Caldwell, S Ferris, C Henry, P Wannenburg

Replacements:A Kyriacou, BJ Botha, P McAllister, D Tuohy, W Faloon, I Porter, N O'Connor, D McIlwaine