Trevor Brennan has been recalled to the Leinster team for their Inteprovincial Championship match against Munster at Dooradoyle tomorrow evening. The 24year-old flanker, twice capped for Ireland during the summer, has thus been swiftly re-instated following his omission from the province's opening match against Ulster last week for internal disciplinary reasons arising out of an incident in a preseason practice game in England.
The combative Brennan's recall, in place of Declan O'Brien, was an "easy decision", according to Leinster coach Mike Ruddock, who added: "Trevor wasn't as focused on his discipline as we would have liked last week. Some disciplinary measures were taken but that's water under the bridge now. Trevor is badly needed for this game in Munster."
Leinster's need for Brennan was also enhanced by their limp 34-14 opening defeat, which has resulted in a further two changes, one unforced and the other forced. Pat Ward makes his provincial debut at the expense of young Barry Gibney, who is ruled out with ankle and shoulder injuries, while Martin Ridge returns to the side at inside centre for Brian Carey.
"We're big into the 22-man squad," explained Ruddock. "We've got Brian on the bench where we can use his attributes, namely his speed and his passing, if we need to. But early on the game is likely to be tight and we feel that Martin can pressurise the opposition midfield. So it's horses for courses really."
Derek Hegarty's various "bumps and bruises" have ruled out any chance of a starting call-up, so he is again confined to a place on the bench.
Leinster have drifted to 4 to 1 behind 6 to 4 joint favourites Ulster and Munster, with Connacht as 6/1 outsiders with Paddy Power Bookmakers.
Amid shades of Warren Gatland's tenure as Connacht coach, his one-time mentor and recent successor as the province's director of rugby, Glenn Ross, has announced an unchanged line-up for Saturday's visit of Ulster to the Sportsground despite last weekend's 18-13 loss to Munster.
Loyalty to players and continuity in selection are clearly shared principles. "I've a two-game rule myself," admitted Ross. "You've got to give players an opportunity to function and show players that you have faith in them.
"It's a little hard on the players knocking on the door but they've just got to keep knocking on the door until it falls down. It's nice to actually be able to pick an unchanged team as well."
Admittedly, with Conor McGuinness and Russell Southam still sidelined, the options were not plentiful, although last year's captain Graham Heaslip had impressed in leading the A side to a stunning 38-3 win over their Munster counterparts and more than one Munster senior forward expressed surprise that Heaslip hadn't been playing against them.
However, the Kiwi lock Justin Cullen holds on to his place, as does experienced hooker Billy Mulcahy, despite an untypically wayward afternoon at the lineouts. Here though, his replacement Bernard Jackman was not noticeably better and thus remains on a bench where the personnel is also unaltered. Their scrum, meanwhile, looked as strong as any provincial unit around.
"I felt that the most sensible thing to do was to resurrect the existing line-out, get the concentration and technique right, and then have a better practice input. We had done a lot of uncontested work but this week we've been doing a lot of contested work and I'd hope to see a significant improvement in that area," maintained Ross.
Tim Allnutt comes in for Eoin Molloy on the A team at centre, and Simon Allnutt moves to fullback to accommodate the inclusion of Owen Cobbe at out-half. John Maher comes in at loosehead and Ian Dillon at open-side flanker for Eoin Brennan, whose work commitments prevented him from taking up a part-time contract this season.
