Lewis primed for 50th Leinster cap

Leinster will hand Kieran Lewis his 50th cap tomorrow night when the province begins its Magners League campaign against Edinburgh Gunners in Murrayfield.

Centre Lewis will be partnered by Michael Berne in a game that will see six players making their competitive debuts for the province.

Berne, scrum-half Chris Whitaker, hooker Harry Vermaas, second rows Trevor Hogan and Owen Finegan as well as blindside Stephen Keogh will all look to impress coach Michael Cheika.
 
The coach has left a number of vacancies in the match-day panel.  Ross McCarron and Luke Fitzgerald are both vying for a place on the left wing and one will have to make do with the bench.

Reserve prop with Johnny Wickham is placed on stand-by in case former Ireland international Reggie Corrigan fails to recover from a knock.

Connacht make one change to the side which defeated Border Reivers for tomorrow's encounter with the Ospreys at the Sportsground.

Keith Matthews comes in on the right wing in place of Darren Yapp, who is among the replacements, after being troubled during the week by a leg injury.

Ospreys head coach Lyn Jones is looking forward to the game.

"Connacht have been a difficult side for all of the Welsh regions to beat over the last few years," he says. "They are a highly motivated bunch of players, who always show great pride on their home patch.

"Although we were disappointed with the scoreline, our performance last weekend was a step in the right direction with 10 players playing their first game in months.

"We caught Connacht at a low point last May, but totally understand the size of Friday's nights challenge.

"Win or lose we will continue to build on each performance and we aim to hit European rugby in the best shape possible."

Leinster:  R Kearney; G Brown, K Lewis, M Berne, AN Other*; F Contepomi, C Whitaker; R McCormack, H Vermaas, W Green; T Hogan, O Finegan; S Keogh, N Ronan, J Heaslip. Replacements: AN Other, B Jackman, A Byrnes, S O'Brien, G Easterby, C Warner, AN Other.

Connacht: M Mostyn; C McPhillips, P Warwick, G Williams, K Matthews; M McHugh, C Keane; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, S Knoop; D Gannon, A Farley; J Muldoon, M Lacey, C Rigney.
Replacements: J Fogarty, M Diffley, M Swift, B O'Connor, T Tierney, D Yapp, D Riordan.