Ella happy to give youth its Celtic fling

LEINSTER coach Gary Ella is happy to rely on his “young guns” for as long as they are needed in the Celtic League and Cup competitions.

Not that he has much of a choice because Leinster have been seriously depleted because of the big contingent in Eddie O'Sullivan's Ireland World Cup squad.

On Friday Leinster will be back at home base against Edinburgh, hoping for their first Celtic League victory after successive defeats at home to Munster and away to the Celtic Warriors.

The only plus for new coach Ella was that the side picked up two bonus points, thereby keeping them off the bottom of the table.

Last week Leinster produced a big performance in Dublin to advance to the quarter-finals of the Celtic Cup at the expense of Neath/Swansea.

"It was nice to get a competitive victory," Ella said yesterday. "But we need to go from here and have a few more."

It would be easy for Ella to make excuses given that so many internationals are unavailable but the former Wallaby was never under any illusions even before he arrived in Ireland.

"I knew what the scene was going to be for a certain time during the season and, in many respects, it's a good situation to be in.

"It is an opportunity for me and other coaches in Ireland to experiment and I really hope that I can fast-forward some players through to challenge for places even when the top players come back.

"There appears to be a real amount of talent in Ireland and I certainly feel that there is a lot of young talent in Leinster. The more games these guys play could well mean they will get more opportunity down the line."

Leo Cullen, one who failed to make the cut for the World Cup squad , will captain Leinster on Friday . He was rested last week and now comes in for Aidan Kearney who reverts to the replacement bench.

David Quinlan is named in the centre as a replacement for the injured Kieran Lewis and Christian Warner, the last minute try scoring hero of Leinster's victory last weekend, will wear he number 13 jersey.

LEINSTER: G D'Arcy, J McWeeney, C Warner, D Quinlan, B Burke, M Leek, B O'Riordan, J Lyne, G Hickie, E Byrne, L Cullen (captain), B Gissing, A McCullen, D Dillon, S Jennings.

Replacements: P Coyle, D Baney, A Kearney, N Breslin, B O'Meara, G Brown, J Norton.