Cheika to ring Leinster changes

LEINSTER will continue their early-season rotation policy against the Ospreys at the RDS this evening (7.35pm) with Michael Cheika having made five changes to the side that swamped Edinburgh in Dublin last week.

Captain Leo Cullen comes in for his first appearance of the season after injury. He will be partnered in the second row by young Devin Toner who impressed in the season opener in Cardiff and as a replacement last week.

Sean O’Brien is the third change to the pack, coming in at open-side flanker. Shane Horgan returns to his habitual berth on the right wing while the versatile Isa Nacewa has been chosen at 10.

Johnny Sexton, who was replaced at out-half in the first period by Nacewa against Edinburgh, doesn’t make the squad but Cheika will start the game with talents like Rob Kearney, Malcolm O’Kelly and Shane Jennings on the bench.

The Leinster coach has already served notice of his intention to continue the musical chairs up until the Heineken Cup opener against Edinburgh next month and it is a policy Jamie Heaslip is fully behind.

“I’m all for it because it is unfair on guys to be thrown in at the deep end and not have game time. They might be called upon all of a sudden in a big game and be expected to know exactly what to do.

“Despite all the training you do you have to experience the real thing. You have got to run out against guys who want to hit you and not your team-mates who are just standing there so you can go through the moves.

“We have a good squad. We used to have an emphasis on a good group of backs we could pick from but now it is pretty equal. We have a good set of forwards too between the guys coming in, the Academy and guys there already.

“Whatever team we put out any week will be a hard side to beat.”

Ospreys coach Sean Holley has followed a similar line of thinking in the early stages of the season and the juggling of resources hasn’t done the Welsh region any harm. They come to Dublin with three wins from three, two on the road.

Holley is operating without the services of seven players this week. Gavin Henson, Mike Phillips and Shane Williams are the most significant absentees but he has still seen fit to name a team containing 13 internationals.

Heaslip and Leinster will know the majority of them well by now, none more so than former Ulster and current Ireland wing Tommy Bowe who made the switch to the Liberty Stadium during the summer.

“From what I’ve seen on the videos Tommy has been playing pretty well. Ospreys have looked like they like using him coming off the wing and playing off (James) Hook a lot. He has been very effective. They have a lot of internationals in the side. They are definitely going to be a handful.”

Rotation hasn’t been the only change Heaslip has had to get his head around this season. The ELVs are still a hot topic of conversation with the province having played just twice competitively under them so far.

The arrival of forwards coach Jonno Gibbes from the southern hemisphere has been a help in adapting to the new laws but it is taking some time for his lungs to adapt to the fact that the ball is now in play so much longer.

“The first two games I played, I found it hard to get into it because of fitness. After that, I am usually fine but this year I just found that it is in play so much longer and you can be knackered.

“If your defence isn’t organised it just makes life so much harder. A lot of it comes down to fitness. You’ll see it a lot this year, teams all over the place in defence and tries leaked.

“You have to be smart with your general defence and your kick chase as well because, as we have seen, there has been a lot more kicking and guys haven’t been kicking it out as much.

“That suits us fine because we have a back three that can counter at any time. It is just tough work on the forwards and especially on those front five boys.”

LEINSTER: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O’Driscoll, F Contepomi, L Fitzgerald; I Nacewa, C Whitaker; R McCormack, B Jackman, S Wright; L Cullen, D Toner; C Jowitt, S O’Brien, J Heaslip.

OSPREYS: L Byrne; T Bowe, S Parker, A Bishop, N Walker; J Hook, R Webb; D Jones, H Bennett, A Jones; AW Jones, I Evans; J Thomas, S Tandy, R Jones.

Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU).