Contepomi returns for Leinster’s trip to Ulster

LEINSTER and Ulster will endeavour to put the Ireland’s World Cup nightmare in the rear-view mirror on Friday night in Ravenhill — but the presence of Felipe Contepomi in the visitor’s dug-out will make that difficult.

Michael Cheika’s squad includes Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy and Girvan Dempsey but the World Player of the Year nominee and Argentina star will also be renewing acquaintances with his provincial colleagues.

“Felipe will certainly be on a high after having an outstanding couple of weeks with Argentina. He’s very eager to get back playing and hopefully we can benefit from his own excellent form,” said Leinster coach Cheika.

Leinster are further boosted by the return of Jamie Heaslip and Chris Whitaker after injury while both Shane Horgan and Malcolm O’Kelly are again included. South Africa international front-rower Ollie Le-Roux is also included in the squad for the first time after joining the province last week.

“Ollie has a massive amount of leadership skills and confidence. He has a wealth of experience at provincial and international levels and will be in the squad,” said Cheika.

Leinster are expecting to be boosted by close to 1,000-strong travelling support in Ravenhill.

Scotland’s World Cup centre Rob Dewey will make his provincial debut at Ravenhill. Coach Mark McCall, who named a 22-man squad yesterday, hinted that Dewey, who moved from Edinburgh during the summer, will partner Ireland wing Andrew Trimble in midfield in a panel that features 16 full internationals.

Ulster, like Leinster, have most of their internationals and new signings on call leaving McCall a couple of big selections to make.

“With all our internationals back, we will have a virtual full squad to select from and obviously there will be a couple of big decisions to make,” said McCall whose side has lost their last three games.

The biggest of those is at fly-half where 36-year-old David Humphreys is now back following an extended break with an ankle injury which he picked up during the summer, and Ireland back-up Paddy Wallace.

“David played 40 minutes last week against Leinster A. Apart from bringing the age profile up, he did extremely well and pulled a lot of strings after a poor start by the team. Paddy, though has been playing and has been training regularly,” said McCall, again giving a broad hint that it will be younger player who will start.

Also certain to start are Ireland back-row duo Stephen Ferris and Neil Best who has just returned from a two-week vacation in Denmark, while Ryan Caldwell is back from suspension and he is likely to join up with Italian lock Carlo Del Favo in the second row leaving Justin Harrison dropping to the bench.

Dropped after the Stradey Park fiasco are flankers Neil McMillan and David Pollock, along with wing Simon Danielli and prop Tom Court, while Matt McCullough is harbouring a minor foot injury. Kieron Dawson is added to the 22 after he returns from injury.

LEINSTER (squad): Forwards — S Wright, B Jackman, O Le-Roux, J F Gomez, S Knoop, L Cullen, M O’Kelly, D Toner, S Keogh, K Gleeson, S Jennings, J Heaslip, K McLaughlin Backs — C Whitaker, C Willis, F Contepomi, J Sexton, C Warner, M Berne, G D’Arcy, B O’Driscoll, L Fitzgerald, R Kearney, G Brown, S Horgan, G Dempsey

ULSTER (squad): Backs — M Bartholomeusz, I Boss, T Bowe, B Cunningham, R Dewey, D Humphreys, P Marshall, M McCrea, A Trimble, P Wallace Forwards — N Best, R Best (capt), N Brady, R Caldwell, K Dawson, C del Fava, S Ferris, D Fitzpatrick, J Fitzpatrick, J Harrison, R Wilson, B Young.