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LEINSTER matchday squad : 15. Isa Nacewa 14. Adam Byrne 13. Colm O'Shea 12. Gordon D'Arcy 11. Mick McGrath 10. Cathal Marsh 9. Luke McGrath
1. Peter Dooley 2. Aaron Dundon 3. Michael Bent 4. Tom Denton 5. Mike McCarthy 6. Kevin McLaughlin CAPTAIN 7. Dan Leavy 8. Peadar Timmins
Replacements (numbers not yet assigned) : Bryan Byrne, Jamie Hagan, Royce Burke-Flynn, Ross Molony, Dominic Ryan, Isaac Boss, Ross Byrne, Fergus McFadden, Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan, Darragh Fanning, Noel Reid, Ben Te'o and Billy Dardis.
...is what I might say if I felt any kind of disrespect towards our RFU Championship visitors tonight, and of course I don’t. In fact, as far as Leinster’s preparation for the upcoming season goes, the “illustriousness” of our opposition tonight matters little.
As Joe Schmidt mulls over his RWC pool opponents, no doubt Leo Cullen and his new coaching team haven’t allowed themselves to look much further than their opening four or five opponents in the new Pro12 campaign.
It’s like we’re in a five-team pool of our own with Embra, Cardiff Blues, Newport Dragons and Scarlets - next after that sees the visit of the champion Warriors so by then we should have a good sense of where we’re at.
So where are we at right now? Well see tonight’s team yourself above. As they say on the Moseley website in their own preview :
“While it’s unlikely all the big guns will be thrown into this fixture the impressive strength in depth of the Leinster squad means it would be easy for them to select two teams who could grace many a Premiership side.”
Tonight’s match will be nigh-on impossible to follow when it comes to substitutions...in fact often in the past numbers on the back have been option. Which of course makes this the ideal night for me to attempt my first “liveblog” of the new season!!! ;-)
I was unable to make the journey to Belfast last week but in my stead Big Joe Shep did a bang up job writing up our victory and by all accounts it seems like we’re not only looking to chuck the ball around but we also have players who can apply the finish. We can certainly look to Adam Byrne and Mick McGrath to go into hyperdrive tonight on the synthetic surface if given the space.
And charged with providing them with that space we have Luke McGrath and Cathal Marsh - these two were the halfback pairing the last time Moseley came to D’brook in the B&I Cup and seem to be set to spearhead our early Pro12 campaign.
In the centre there is quite the polarised pairing experience-wise as Gordon Darcy team up with Collie O’Shea but you know what though it will hardly get much chance to blossom in the future I could see them working well together.
And then of course there’s Isa, who is bound to get the biggest cheer of the night when the teams are read out. In this stint at Leinster rugby, it’s not merely what he can do himself on the pitch that is crucial, more how he can influence those around him. I have a feeling those around him are going to get the maximum benefit.
Up front I am pretty sure Joe Schmidt will be in attendance to see how Michael Bent gets on...again no disrespect to Moseley but I’d say Nathan White will probably get a better workout tomorrow in the Aviva but after all that has happened since Bent’s arrival he has done extremely well to put himself in the frame and we shouldn’t rule him out just yet.
With virtually another full XV on the bench including names like McFadden, Te’o and Dom Ryan there’s bound to be a lot to take in tonight; I am certainly expecting a decent amount of tries from the boys in blue, while at the same time far more interested in how we approach the game.
Stay tuned to HoR here or on social media; the liveblog post should appear around 7pm and technology permitting I will be providing updates throughout the match. Or, if you’re heading down yourself, see you there and give us a wave! JLP
#COYBIB #GoGetEmLeo
