Kidney brings big guns to shoot down Munster

DECLAN KIDNEY returns to the scene of some of his greatest triumphs when he brings his exciting Leinster side to Musgrave Park for Saturday’s crucial Celtic League tie against Munster (5.30).

Kidney enjoyed great success at the Cork headquarters in his playing days with PBC and Dolphin and later as coach of a number of teams, most memorably with Munster. Now, however, he goes there as Leinster mastermind in the knowledge that victory would really kick-start a challenge for the title the province captured in December 2001 when beating Munster 24-20 in the Lansdowne Road decider.

Kidney was always a wily coach and you suspect little has changed over the years. Yesterday he announced a squad of 26, 14 forwards and 12 backs, from which he will finalise his side. In spite of the fact that they face a Heineken Cup tie away to Bath seven days later, Leinster have decided to put out a full-strength side.

That means starting places for internationals Girvan Dempsey, Brian O’Driscoll, Denis Hickie, Shane Byrne, Malcolm O’Kelly and Eric Miller, all of whom came in as replacements during Monday’s 9-8 win over Ulster at Donnybrook.

Leinster have such an array of talent behind the scrum that it is likely there will be no place for either Argentinean international Felipe Contepomi or New Zealander David Holwell, who has been one of the outstanding figures in the campaign so far. One envisages a line-up of Dempsey, Shane Horgan, Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Denis Hickie, Holwell and Guy Easterby, meaning that Contepomi and former Irish scrum-half Brian O’Meara will be left on the bench.

The front five of captain Reggie Corrigan, Shane Byrne, Emmett Byrne, Leo Cullen and O’Kelly is also cast in stone, with Victor Costello, Miller and Aidan McCullen forming the back-row combination.

It all adds up to a mighty challenge for Munster, whose intention is also to field as near to full-strength as possible although there was no sign of any white smoke from that direction yesterday.

Since the 2001 decider, the sides have met four times - at Musgrave Park in April 2002 when they played out a 6-6 draw; September 2003, when Munster won 15-8 at Donnybrook; in February this year it was Munster again, this time by 24-13 at Musgrave Park, before Leinster came out on top by 17-15 at Donnybrook last September.

There has been an age-old rivalry between Munster and Leinster and victory on Saturday will be prized by both sides. Munster have won each of their last nine Celtic League ties to lie just a point behind the Neath-Swansea Ospreys (who will expect to widen the gap by beating the struggling Cardiff Blues at the Arms Park earlier on Saturday) with Leinster, winners of their last five outings in all competitions, six points further off the pace.

Meanwhile, Ulster coach Mark McCall will wait until later today to name his side to face Connacht in the crunch New Year’s Day game at Ravenhill, encouraged by the news that Andy Ward, David Humphreys and Paul Shields will all be available for selection.

Ward has been out of action since mid-November, when he sustained ligament damage in the Celtic League match against The Borders, and his return to action would be a big boost for a side who know how important a win is against Connacht on Saturday.

Humphreys missed Monday’s derby match against Leinster with an injury to his foot while Paul Shields was also unavailable for selection for that match through injury.

LEINSTER SQUAD: Backs, B. O’Meara, G. Easterby, B. O’Riordan, D. Holwell, K. Lewis, G. Darcy, B. O’Driscoll, D. Quinlan, S. Horgan, D. Hickie, F. Contepomi, G. Dempsey; Forwards, R. Corrigan, S. Byrne, D. Blaney, E. Byrne, R. Nebbett, L. Cullen, B. Gissing, M. O’Kelly, C. Potts, A. McCullen, V. Costello, S. Jennings, N. Ronan, E. Miller.

Referee: Alan Lewis.