Cheika set to give Hogan first outing in battle against Gunners
The Australian believes Hogan and fellow former Munster forward Stephen Keogh, as well as Australians Chris Whitaker and Owen Finegan, could have key roles to play in bumping Leinster up the pecking order in Europe.
Equally, Cheika has warmed to new front row forward Harry Vermaas, who alternated between prop and hooker in Leinster’s warm-up games.
“I think that he’s still pretty fresh coming out of South Africa. He’s getting to grips with living away from home, and is getting used to our new combinations. He really wants to do well and he’s now got the opportunity to prove himself at this level,” Cheika remarked.
The coach is also enthused by the impact made by young Luke Fitzgerald, the ex-Blackrock College full back. Cheika said: “He is a bundle of energy.”
Cheika is desperately seeking a strong start to the season. He said: “We lost our first game of last season against the Ospreys, and it’s important that we improve.”
Elsewhere, Munster have apparently gone publicity shy and, for the second day running, held back on naming a squad in advance of their clash with Border Reivers at Thomond Park on Saturday night.
However, it’s reported Christian Cullen and Ian Dowling are troubled by leg injuries, but that Tim McGann, the new signing from Australia, is likely to make his debut in the back row.
Ulster will be unchanged for the difficult League trip to face the Dragons on Saturday night.
The Celtic champions began the defence of their title with a hard-earned but deserved victory over a strong Llanelli side last week at Ravenhill and coach Mark McCall keeps faith with the same 22 players for the visit to Rodney Parade.
Although there appeared to be one or two problems in the back five, Neil McMillan stays at open side with Roger Wilson at number 8 and the ever-improving Stephen Ferris wearing the number six jersey, leaving Kieron Dawson on the bench again.
“Granted the opening 40 minutes against Llanelli was a little bit ragged, but I was very happy with a number of aspects of our game immediately after the interval which enabled us to build the platform to win the game,” said McCall.
Connacht coach Michael Bradley has made one change for Friday’s clash with the Ospreys from the side which won 29-15 against Border Reivers.
Keith Matthews comes into the side on the right-wing in place of Darren Yapp, who is included among the replacements. Yapp, Connacht’s most experienced player in this competition, was doubtful with a knee injury but while he was given the all-clear, it was decided not to start him.
Bradley wants his side to build on the opening round win over the Borders as they face into six consecutive Friday games at the Sportsground.
He said: “The Ospreys, with 24 full internationals, are rightly one of the favourites to win the competition and we know we will face a huge test.
“But I was very pleased with the way we performed last week, especially up front where we faced a pack all of whom had full international caps.
“Our workrate was the reason we prevailed. We seemed to get stronger as the game progressed and I am looking for something similar on Friday evening,” said Bradley.
: B Cunningham, M Bartholemeusz, P Steinmetz, P Wallace, A Maxwell, D Humphreys, K Campbell, J Fitzpatrick, P Shields, T Court, J Harrison (capt), T Barker, S Ferris, N McMillan, R Wilson.
: N Brady, D Fitzpatrick, M McCullough, K Dawson, P Marshall, K Maggs, S Young.
: M Berne, G Brown, A Byrnes, F Contepomi, R Corrigan, G Easterby, O Finegan, L Fitzgerald, W Green, J Heaslip, T Hogan, B Jackman, R Kearney, S Keogh, K Lewis, R McCarron, R McCormack, S O’Brien, N Ronan, H Vermaas, C Warner, C Whitaker .
: M Mostyn; K Matthews, P Warwick, G Williams, C McPhillips; M McHugh, C Keane; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, S Knoop; D Gannon, A Farley; J Muldoon, M Lacey, C Rigney.
: J Fogarty, M Diffley, M Swift, B O’Connor, T Tierney, D Yapp, D Riordan.
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