Leinster and Ulster set for historic Lansdowne duel

ULSTER cannot be overtaken as Magners League leaders, even if arch-rivals Leinster pull off a victory in the last match at the old Lansdowne Road stadium on Sunday.

This particular all-Irish affair has already captured the imagination of the Irish rugby public, with 45,000 tickets sold to punters desperate to play their part in history. It’s almost sure to be a 49,000 sell-out.

Hundreds of thousands more will watch the duel on television; the Connacht-Munster game, despite its huge importance in terms of qualification for Europe next year, and Munster’s latest conquest over the boys in blue, won’t quite capture the same attention.

Munster will not, however, be treating this game lightly after struggling to pull away from Connacht in the first Magners League encounter a few weeks back.

The Munster coach Declan Kidney realises fully that Connacht have become a force in Irish and European rugby to the point that they now pose a direct threat to Munster’s participation in next season’s Heineken Cup.

Given the short time frame between successive matches, neither side will be finalised before tomorrow — with Leinster and Ulster following suit in delaying naming the teams.

As Leinster return home this week after a wounding experience at Thomond Park, Ulster will still enjoy some type of lead at the end of this historic game.

The current champions may be ahead of the chasing posse, Llanelli Scarlets and Leinster, but full back Bryn Cunningham is a major doubt for Sunday’s bumper head-to-head, as ankle-injury victim Girvan Dempsey is for Leinster.

Both Munster and Connacht appear to have a relatively clean bill of health amongst their squads despite some players receiving “bumps and bruises” in midweek.

In Ulster, Cunningham suffered a back spasm during the win over Connacht on Tuesday.

Yet, the coach Mark McCall has included the ever-consistent Cunningham in his initial 23-man squad for the derby date and is worried about the availability of David Humphreys, who has a calf strain.

Paddy Wallace is already a tried replacement for McCall, who can also call on former Australian and Saracens utility back Mark Bartholomeusz to fill in at full-back if needed.

McCall, while disappointed with his side’s performance in the 20-10 win over Connacht, is keen to give Lansdowne Road a fitting finale before the demolition men move in to raze the old stadium in preparation for an 50,000 state-of-the-art playing arena.

“I was a little disappointed with how things went on Tuesday because we set high standards for ourselves as a team, and we fell below those for most of the game.

“We know we have to do a lot better, but we also know we can raise the level of our game. We now have got ourselves in a great position in the Magners League and it is up to ourselves to keep it going.

“As for injuries, we will monitor Bryn (Cunningham) over the next 48 hours to see how he progresses, while we are a little bit more confident over the fitness of David (Humphreys).”

ULSTER SQUAD: Backs: B Cunningham, P McKenzie, T Bowe, M Bartholomeusz, A Trimble, P Steinmetz, K Maggs, P Wallace, D Humphreys, I Boss, K Campbell.

Forwards: J Fitzpatrick, B Young, S Best, R Best, P Shields, J Harrison, M McCullough, T Barker, N Best, K Dawson, N McMillan, R Wilson.