Swansea will put it up to Munster
Ulster met their match at St Helen's last week but Connolly's side will be forced to face a Munster team intent on moving a step further to a guaranteed Celtic League quarter-final place.
Swansea expect a decent amount of support as they trot onto Musgrave Park (7.30) but Munster fans are sure to drown them out. High profile players Mark Taylor, Garin Jenkins, Scott Gibbs and Kevin Morgan are all ruled out for Swansea but, as the Welsh attempt to win their first competitive fixture in Ireland, Munster will point to the fact that over half of the first choice players are either injured or in Russia with the Irish squad.
Yet Gaffney makes no make excuses: "We knew where we stood at the start of the season in relation to our international players. We decided early on to get on with it and we have done that without complaint."
In the circumstances, Munster have done exceptionally well and are one of the few unbeaten teams in the competition. They are top of their group and another victory particularly against a high quality team like Swansea should ensure they qualify for the last eight of the tournament. Gaffney has made a couple of brave calls, among them the selection of young Denis Leamy as openside flanker.
"I know he is young and most of his rugby has been played at six or eight. But he has done a bit on the open side and he will have two top men around him. Eddie Halvey and Jim Williams have the experience and Denis is talented enough to make a good job of any position he plays in," said Gaffney.
Leinster will be captained by Peter Smyth for their trip to Cardiff. Smarting from a bad start, both teams need to win this particular match and coach Matt Williams hopes Smyth can provide the spark for that.
Christian Warner has been moved to fullback and Shane Horgan makes a start in the middle of the field.
Leinster do, however, have to wait on a fitness report relating to international flanker Eric Miller. Aidan
McCullen is on standby. The good news for the champions is that Emmet Byrne makes his first start for Leinster in almost six months.
Cardiff have named two South Africans in the side, 25-year-old Donovan Van Vuuren, who is named at fullback and second row Heino Senekal, whose international claim to fame was as a second row with Namibia, the former South African province that is now an independent country.
The Munster under-21 selectors keep faith with the side that beat Leinster last weekend, for the final game in the League series tomorrow at Thomond Park. MUNSTER: J Staunton, M Lawlor, M Mullins, J Holland, D Crotty, K Keane, M Prendergast, S Kerr, F Sheahan, R Laffan, M Galwey, M O'Driscoll, E Halvey, J Williams (captain), D Leamy. Replacements: W O'Kelly, J Blaney, T Hogan, C McMahon, D Malone, C Mahony, J O'Neill.
SWANSEA: S Payne; M Robinson, M Taylor, S Winn, G Henson; A Thomas, S Cordingley; D Morris, G Jenkins, B Evans, J Slade, J Griffiths, R Jenkins, C Charvis (capt), J Thomas. Replacements named later.
ULSTER: B Cunningham, J Topping, R Constable, J Bell, T Howe, A Larkin, N Doak, J Fitzpatrick, M Sexton, R Kempson, M Blair, J Davidson, W Brosnihan, N McMillan, T McWhirter. Replacements: P Shields, S Best, N Best, K Campbell, P Johns, S Young, S Stewart.
NEATH: A Durston; K James, Bateman, D Tieuti, S Williams; L Jarvis, P Horgan; D Jones, B Williams, A Millward, A Newman, G Llewellyn (capt), H Jenkins, N Bonner-Evans, S Tandy.
Replacements: S Connor, S Jones, A Jones, J Storey, L Bateman, A Mocelutu, A Moore.
LEINSTER (v Cardiff): C Warner, K Lewis, S Horgan, D Quinlan, G D'Arcy, A Dunne, B O'Meara, E Byrne, P Smyth (captain), N Treston, B Gissing, A Kearney, E Miller, D Dillon, L Toland.
MUNSTER UNDER-21: P O'Brien; A Cowley, B Murphy, K Matthews, R Lane; B Keeshan, F O'Loughlin; V Soden, D Fogarty, E McGovern; R Hartigan, P McCarthy; S Keogh capt, E Nihill, B O'Connor. Replacements. C Garvey, F Gately, J Danagher, R O'Connor, G Noonan, K O'Mahony, F Cogan.
ULSTER UNDER-21: T Bowe, L Brewin, M Rainey, G Martin, N Ozo, I Humphreys, P Roxborough, N Conlon , R Best, M Stokes, N Greenan, N McComb, W McAfee, P Minnis, M McComish. Replacements: J Kilbane, P Currie , L Stevenson, R Lucas, S Auld, N Patterson, R McCarter.
FIXTURES.
Today. Pool A. Munster v Swansea, Musgrave Park, Ulster v Neath, Ravenhill, both 7.30pm.
Pool B. Connacht v Newport, Galway Sportsgrounds, 5.45pm, Pontypridd v Borders, Sardis Road, 7pm, Glasgow v Bridgend, Glasgow 7.30pm.
Tomorrow. Pool A. Caerphilly v Edinburgh, Caerphilly, 2.30pm, Llanelli v Ebbw Vale, Llanelli, 2.30pm.
Pool B. Cardiff v Leinster, Cardiff, 5.30pm.
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