O'Driscoll may get a run against Ulster

RUGBY/Ulster v Leinster (Ravenhill, Monday, 5.00):  Since news filtered out that Brian O'Driscoll's dislocated shoulder was healing well, this match has been characterised by whether he will be in or out of the St Stephen's Day clash at Ravenhill.

For the player, simply to set a foot on the pitch would serve a useful purpose in defusing the constant questioning about his return. This week it looks like O'Driscoll will make the journey north but, as ever with selections, there are variables.

In short, he is in the 24-man panel. But coach Michael Cheika has two decisions to make: it is likely his captain will travel, but a place on the bench seems the most likely arrangement.

Cheika is not a coach to mess around with players who have served him well, and in Kieran Lewis he has a centre and winger who has rarely set a foot wrong.

With O'Driscoll possibly coming off the bench, Leinster may assume a familiar shape in the backline: that O'Driscoll, Gordon D'Arcy and Shane Horgan alignment.

Either way, it is a tough assignment for Cheika, made harder by the fact Ulster have both secondrows, Justin Harrison and Mat McCullough available. A disciplinary hearing yesterday in Glasgow found that Harrison did not strike an opponent with his head, and McCullough did not punch or strike an opponent.

Both teams are out to show that last week's Heineken European Cup results did not represent their best features to the public. While Ulster will take cold comfort that refereeing decisions went against them at the ill-tempered Saracens game, it was Leinster's impotence in defence that let them down against Bourgoin.

Ulster are a more consistent side, and Cheika believes they are a well coached team. Given that Ospreys just recently ended their eight-match winning run in the Celtic League at Ravenhill, few would argue.

"There is a lot of respect from our point of view for their style of game. It's different to ours, but it's very effective and they are hard to beat," said Cheika.

Naturally his hopes are that Leinster will continue to improve and play their hugely attractive brand of fast rugby in a more calibrated way. But as he noted at Wednesday's press conference in the RDS, Leinster are still making errors, but of a different kind to the ones they were making earlier in the season.

"We are focusing on a different level of errors now than we were six or seven weeks ago, so that's good in itself," he said.

But Ulster's game is gritty and tight - and in Belfast even more so. They can confront teams physically in the pack, and with the likes of Paul Steinmetz, the blossoming Andrew Trimble and Tommy Bowe, they've a bit of punch too. Leinster will be buoyed that they beat Ulster in October at Donnybrook 30-23.

"Credit to Leinster on that game," said Ulster forwards coach Allen Clarke. "But that match has come and gone."

That's just the way Cheika would see it too.

Elsewhere, the Ireland training camp scheduled for January 1st-4th has been cancelled. A squad of 35 players were due to take part in the pre-Six Nations camp in Dublin following the Celtic League fixtures over the Christmas period. The decision to cancel was made to allow the players sufficient time to recover.

"This camp has always been part of the season schedule and has been planned since September, but after weighing up the schedule that the players have over the Christmas period and New Year, we have decided to cancel the early January training camp," said Irish coach Eddie O'Sullivan.

"The majority of the players in the 35-man squad are still heavily involved in trying to qualify for the latter stages of the European competitions, so on balance it was felt that the players would be best served by resting during this time and to allow them to prepare fully with their provinces and clubs," he added.

ULSTER: B Cunningham; T Bowe, K Maggs/J Bell, A Trimble, P Steinmetz; D Humphreys, K Campbell; B Young, R Best, S Best, J Harrison, M McCullough, N Best, N McMillan, R Wilson. Replacements: N Brady, J Fitzpatrick, R Caldwell, S Ferris, I Boss, A Larkin, J Topping.

LEINSTER (squad): Forwards: R McCormack, R Corrigan, W Green, E Byrne, D Blaney, B Blaney, M O'Kelly, B Gissing, A Byrnes, B Williams, E Miller, J Heaslip, C Jowitt, K Gleeson. Backs: G Easterby, B O'Riordan, F Contepomi, J Hepworth, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, S Horgan, R Kearney, K Lewis, G Dempsey.