O’Kelly and Horgan notch up 50 caps for Leinster
Both players will be winning their 50th caps for the province, and yesterday neither was initially aware that the milestone was looming.
“The 50th? That’s a bit away,” O’Kelly declared, believing the reference was to the number of Irish caps (41) he has won.
“Oh, Leinster, that’s great. It’s a very pleasant surprise, particularly because I didn’t expect to be involved in this game,” he said.
“Initially, we expected to be involved in international duty, but were then told to go out and get another game under our belts before the trip to play Russia in the World Cup qualifier.
“It’s nice to think that I can celebrate a milestone like this in front of our own fans. It will be a pretty special occasion and I look forward to it.”
Horgan, on the road to recovery after injury, was equally delighted: “I’m chuffed to have reached the 50 mark. It doesn’t compare with some of the great Leinster players who reached that milestone in the past, because there are so many games these days. But, I suppose, it does show that I have been around for a little while anyway.”
Leinster’s intimidating 11-game unbeaten record in the Celtic League is gone, but their home supremacy remains intact.
Connacht will test their resolve at Donnybrook tomorrow evening.
Gordon D’Arcy will continue in his favoured full-back role, in the absence of Girvan Dempsey, and Kieran Lewis holds on at outside centre.
“Kieran has just been playing really well. He is a guy I rate enormously. He is a very good student and he still has a year to go in his studies. So he won’t take a contract. But he is certainly a guy I want to contract. He is a class act,” coach Matt Williams said.
Christian Warner has won the right to the out-half slot from Andy Dunne.
Williams must have been tempted to select more of the second-string side that went down valiantly to Glasgow.
“The policy we have stuck by is that if a guy plays for his country one week, you can’t drop him for the next.
“It would just be the wrong thing to do completely, especially when the reason they have been released to us is because the players felt they needed a little bit more rugby before the Russian game.”
LEINSTER (V Connacht): G. D’Arcy; D. Hickie, K. Lewis, S. Horgan, J. McWeeney; C. Warner, B. O’Meara; R. Corrigan, S. Byrne, P. Wallace, L. Cullen, M. O’Kelly, E. Miller/A. McCullen, K. Gleeson, V. Costello.
England, meanwhile, are to visit Wellington for the first time since 1985 when they tackle the All Blacks next June.
Clive Woodward’s squad have a scheduled June 14 appointment with New Zealand, before arriving in Melbourne, where they are due to face Australia seven days later.
New Zealand officials also announced yesterday that the All Blacks will meet Wales in Hamilton on June 21, while Australia have appointments with Ireland in Brisbane (June 7) and Wales at Sydney’s Stadium Australia (June 14).
Scotland, meanwhile, are heading for South Africa, where the Springboks will await them in Durban on June 7 and Johannesburg a week later.
New Zealand schedule 2003: June 14, England (Wellington), June 21, Wales (Hamilton), June 28 or 29, France (Christchurch).
Australia schedule: June 7, Ireland (Brisbane), June 14, Wales (Sydney), June 21, England (Melbourne).
South Africa schedule: June 7, Scotland (Durban), June 14, Scotland (Johannesburg), June 21, Argentina (Port Elizabeth).
2003 Tri-Nations: July 12, South Africa v Australia (Cape Town), July 19, South Africa v New Zealand (Pretoria), July 26, Australia v New Zealand (Sydney), August 2, Australia v South Africa (Perth), August 9, New Zealand v South Africa (Dunedin), August 16, New Zealand v Australia (Auckland).
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