THE Magners League came down to a two-horse race as defending champions Leinster overtook Munster with a gutsy second-half display against the Ospreys.

BERNARD JACKMAN returns to the Leinster line-up for tonight’s Magners League clash at the Liberty Stadium (KO: 7.05pm) in the only change from the side that defeated the Scarlets 31-17 last time out.

GORDON D’ARCY will again audition for a Six Nations starting berth this Friday when Leinster go to the Ospreys’ Liberty Stadium in search of a second successive Magners League win in Wales.

GORDON D’ARCY will have caught Ireland coach Declan Kidney’s eye as defending champions Leinster kept the heat on Magners League table-toppers Munster.

LEINSTER defence coach Kurt McQuilkin believes the province is ‘in a good place’ in terms of the race for Magners League and Heineken Cup honours.

MICHAEL CHEIKA remains upbeat about Malcolm O’Kelly’s chances of escaping further censure for the stamp on Phil Vickery last week, an act which is threatening the player’s participation in Sunday’s final Heineken Cup group game against Edinburgh.

LEINSTER have been dealt a severe Heineken Cup blow with the news that international flanker Shane Jennings has been suspended until January 27.

NEW ZEALAND signing Nick Williams made a low key debut while Duncan Williams, Munster’s scrum half in waiting, had a satisfactory outing in a rather lack-lustre A provincial game at Donnybrook yesterday.

ON the day Nick Williams is set to be introduced from the bench for his first representative fixture with Munster, Stephen Keogh has been chosen to lead Leinster against his former side in today’s A clash at Donnybrook (2.30pm).

THE good news first.

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika is preparing for Saturday’s Heineken Cup visit of Castres by insisting the French outfit will be more Montauban than Bourgoin.

GEORGE HOOK ruffled more than a few feathers after Munster’s narrow defeat to New Zealand last week when he claimed that Leinster would never have been able to produce a similar performance under the same straitened circumstances.

The teams for this weekend's AIB League fixtures have been announced.

IT IS back to basics this week for Leinster. Last Saturday it was Wasps, the Heineken Cup and a heaving RDS. This Friday it will be Glasgow, approximately 2,000 people and Glasgow’s Firhill in the Magners League.

The teams for this weekend's AIB League fixtures have been announced.

THOUGH only a Dublin resident a matter of weeks, CJ van der Linde is well able to empathise with his Leinster colleagues’ pitiful record in Murrayfield, a venue they visit again this Saturday for their opening Heineken Cup match of the season.

LEINSTER look set to revert back to their early-season rotation policy for Sunday’s Magners League game with Connacht at the Sportsground having started with what was arguably their first 15 against Munster last weekend.

NOT a complete performance from Leinster by any stretch of the imagination, but still a significant victory against a heavyweight Ospreys side that had travelled to Dublin with three wins from three so far this season.

LEINSTER will continue their early-season rotation policy against the Ospreys at the RDS this evening (7.35pm) with Michael Cheika having made five changes to the side that swamped Edinburgh in Dublin last week.

AS EXPECTED, Michael Cheika has taken a wrecking ball to his established first XV for tonight’s meaningless Magners League game against the Dragons but a number of Irish internationals have been afforded another much-needed run-out before the summer tour.

RUGBY legend David Humphreys is battling to be fit for his final game with Ulster at Ravenhill tomorrow night.

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL has been included in the Leinster squad to face Edinburgh in the Magners League tie at Murrayfield on Friday but a final decision on the centre’s fitness won’t be made until tomorrow at lunchtime.

THE good news for Leinster fans is that Brian O’Driscoll has been included in the 26-man squad to face Munster at the RDS on Saturday.

MALCOLM O’KELLY could become Leinster’s most capped player in Saturday’s top-of-the-table Magners League clash with Llanelli Scarlets, (Stradey Park, 5.30pm).

A LACK of involvement with the national side is one of the key reasons behind Keith Gleeson’s decision to retire from professional rugby at the end of the season, according to Leinster coach Michael Cheika.

GIRVAN DEMPSEY has described his recovery from his hip injury as “slow but good” and is keeping his fingers crossed that he will be ready in time for the next Six Nations match against Wales.

LEINSTER’S South African prop Ollie le Roux believes Toulouse will destroy Munster’s dreams of a second Heineken Cup title.

MICHAEL CHEIKA claims a perceived sense of injustice over their lack of representation in the Ireland pack will act as extra motivation for his Leinster forwards ahead of this weekend’s crunch Magners League tie.

EXORCISING their Murrayfield ghosts may be Leinster’s primary goal for the visit of Magners League basement boys, Ulster, to the RDS on St Stephen’s Day, but under pressure Blues coach Michael Cheika may also have a point to prove to his detractors.

IT was just over a year ago and Stan Wright, a beefy Pacific Islander, was at home in the Cook Islands, working construction.

Captain Brian O'Driscoll has been passed fit to play for Leinster at home to Edinburgh in the Heineken Cup at The RDS on Friday night.

IF there was one obvious downside to Leinster’s defeat of Munster last Friday evening it was the sight of Brian O’Driscoll hobbling off the pitch after half an hour but it seems the Irish captain is recovering and on track to return for Friday’s Heineken Cup encounter with Edinburgh.

MUNSTER and Leinster face off in Musgrave Park on Friday knowing that the victor will sit proudly atop the Magners League table for the guts of a month but that’s less important to Michael Cheika than bragging rights.

LEINSTER closed the gap on Magners League leaders Cardiff Blues with a victory over the depleted champions, the Ospreys in Swansea last night.

AFTER their injury woes last week in France, Leinster’s strength in depth will be tested to the full tonight as they return to Magners League duties against the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium.

LEINSTER return to Magners League duty against the Ospreys on Friday, having received mixed news concerning the injury worries picked up during Sunday’s Heineken Cup defeat in Toulouse.

THE FIRST game of any Heineken Cup campaign is always one to whet the appetite, but Shane Jennings has added reason to count down the days to Saturday’s game ever since Leinster were paired with the Leicester Tigers last June.

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL and Malcolm O’Kelly return to the Leinster fold this week for the first time since their World Cup disappointments.

THE blows just keep on coming for Irish rugby.

WHILE his “galacticos” had been labouring at the Rugby World Cup in France, Michael Cheika’s set of replacement backs have been cutting a swathe through the first two rounds of the Magners League.

CARDIFF Arms Park has been a graveyard for Leinster’s Magners League ambitions this past two seasons and coach Michael Cheika accepts that they will be up against it again when they return to the Welsh capital this Friday.

Centre Michael Berne has had to drop out of the Leinster squad to play the Cardiff Blues in the Arms Park on Friday (KO: 7.30pm).

WITH almost half their first team away in France and a revamped RDS providing the backdrop, this Magners League opener threatened to be a step into the unknown for Leinster.

MICHAEL CHEIKA accepts that Leinster’s disappointing away form must improve if they are to claim the Magners League title next month.