Cohesive Leinster should get across Borders

Celtic League/ Border Reivers v Leinster: On paper this looks like one of the mismatches of the season, then again it's not going to be played on paper but on Netherdale's usually impressively manicured pitch. And, strange as it may seem, Leinster have struggled to overcome the Borders on their home patch, losing two and narrowly winning the other two on their last four visits here.

In the immediate aftermath of their excellent 27-20 win over Munster in front of a record Magners Celtic League crowd, to scale the same heights and, most of all, repeat the same physical intensity in the tackle/breakdown area is in some respects a bigger ask.

With their galacticos back in harness, Leinster appear to have found some cohesion after initially struggling to accommodate their new signings, and a controlled, professional performance (ideally with a much improved lineout) would assuredly yield a third successive league win and propel them into the top two and take them into their opening Euro joust against free-scoring Gloucester with real momentum.

Border Reivers, bottom of the table with just one point, have just one victory to show for their toils from their last dozen matches: 43-5 over the Dragons at Netherdale last May.

In addition, they have lost their last eight games against Irish teams, although a week after Leinster's epic win in Toulouse last year the Borders extended them to a 35-34 win.

As Denis Hickie noted during the week, Leinster were lucky to win that game, and the Borders look a stronger team this season. And they should be inspired by the presence of Brian O'Driscoll and co, and with it an increase in home support.

Technically and tactically they'll provide a different challenge to Munster.

"They play a very wide defence," observed coach Michael Cheika. "They fill the field totally. They try to spoil you in the tackle and then spread themselves across the field totally. So when you look up to attack you don't see as much space out wide, so if you want to go out wide you've got to be able to challenge their defence with some slightly different options that we want to take.

"They're a big pack that's going to try and run at us as well. They'll try and stand up and run at us and get go-forward, and the perennial challenge is to try and stop a class player like (Chris) Cusiter running from the base of ruck and maul. That's going to test your defence. Any type of quick ball they get, he'll challenge those close-in defenders. That's something we need to be very, very aware of, because once they get on a bit of a roll, they can be quite effective."

With Shane Horgan and Girvan Dempsey nursing shoulder injuries, and Ronnie McCormack suspended for accumulating three yellow cards, Reggie Corrigan, Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald are the changes to the side that defeated Munster last weekend.

Guy Easterby continues his half-back partnership with Felipe Contepomi, while Bernard Jackman, Cillian Willis and Kieran Lewis are named on the bench, which seems particularly tough on Harry Vermaas after his impressive performance from off the bench last week.

Borders Reivers' centre Ben MacDougall has recovered from a bruised hip which he suffered almost four weeks ago, which ended a run of 25 consecutive games, and returns to the side. New signing Ed Kalman makes his first start.

"The team took some positive steps forward last week towards playing an exciting brand of rugby," commented Borders head coach Steve Bates.

"Tomorrow night's game will be a very good indicator for the rest of October and it will be important for us to perform extremely well against one of the strongest teams in Europe."

It could be footloose and fancy free again, but Leinster should get there in the end.

Netherdale, 7.30pm.

Live on Setanta Sports.

BORDER REIVERS: C MacRae; S Danielli, B MacDougall, G Law, N De Luca; S Jones, C Cusiter (capt); G Kerr, R Ford, E Kalman, O Palepoi, C Hamilton, R Beattie, S Gray, K Brown. Replacements: S Scott, B Douglas, S Newlands, J Dalziel, B McKerchar, A Miller, G Townsend.

Leinster: R Kearney; L Fitzgerald, B O'Driscoll (capt), G D'Arcy, D Hickie; F Contepomi, G Easterby; R Corrigan, B Blaney, W Green, T Hogan, M O'Kelly, C Jowitt, K Gleeson, J Heaslip. Replacements: H Vermaas, B Jackman, O Finegan, S Keogh, C Willis, C Warner, K Lewis.

Referee: Neil Ballard (WRU).

Previous meetings: (02-03) Borders 23 Leinster 18; (03-04) Borders 21 Leinster 26; Leinster 35 Borders 12; (04-05) Leinster 50 Borders 13; Borders 21 Leinster 16; (05-06) Leinster 62 Borders 14; Borders 34 Leinster 35.

Form guide: Borders: L L L L L. Leinster: L W L W W.

Leading points scorers: Borders: Calum MacRae 21. Leinster: Felipe Contepomi 41.

Leading try scorers: Borders: three players on 1. Leinster: Denis Hickie 3, Trevor Hogan, Shane Horgan, Brian O'Driscoll 2 each.

Forecast: Leinster to win.