Burt 3-14 Sean MacCumhaills 1-12

GORDON BROWN today urged voters not to put Britain’s “fragile” economic recovery at risk by entrusting control to his “novice” rivals.

CHAMPIONS Leinster go to Murrayfield tonight in search of Magners League points, but face a huge battle against an Edinburgh team with an impressive home record.

Teams for today's All-Ireland League ties.

THE timing of Leo Cullen’s recovery from injury could hardly be more appropriate as Leinster go in search of further Magners League glory at the RDS this weekend.

IRELAND face tournament hosts, the Arabian Gulf, in the Rugby World Cup Sevens Bowl quarter-finals today after a Friday of mixed of emotions in Dubai.

IRELAND manager Hugh McCaughey is confident his side can “spring a few surprises” at the Rugby Sevens World Cup in Dubai this week.

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.

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).

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.

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.

HEINEKEN Cup winner Anthony Horgan and hooker Denis Fogarty struck for two tries apiece in the Munster reserve side’s resounding win over their Leinster equivalents at Donnybrook yesterday.

England Saxons 34 Ireland A 12

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

The team lineups for this weekend’s AIB League fixtures have been announced.

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.

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).

THERE may still be five rounds to play before this year’s Magners League campaign is put to bed, but Leinster already have one hand gripped firmly around the trophy after events in Dublin and Wales last night.

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.

INJURIES and international duties will deprive Leinster of seven front-line players at the Sportsground this evening but Michael Cheika has still been able to name a hugely experienced first 15 for the Magners League tie against Connacht (kick-off 7.30).

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.

STARTING places for Tommy Bowe on the right wing and Mick O’Driscoll in the second row, and a spot on the bench for Paul O’Connell, were the main talking points from the Irish selection to face Scotland in Saturday’s RBS Six Nations game at Croke Park.

Ulster scrum-half Isaac Boss will lead Ireland A against Scotland A in Perth.

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.

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.

FELIPE CONTEPOMI is again a notable absentee from the Leinster squad to face Connacht in Friday night’s Magners League clash at the RDS (7.30pm).

LEINSTER and Ulster will endeavour to put the Ireland’s World Cup nightmare in the rear-view mirror on Friday night in Ravenhill — but the presence of Felipe Contepomi in the visitor’s dug-out will make that difficult.

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.

KEITH GLEESON could join a select band tonight by earning his 100th cap for Leinster in their Magners league tie away to the Cardiff Blues — but he will have to come off the bench to do it.

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.