Keeping the powder dry?

RIVAL coaches Michael Cheika and Tony McGahan were left with a number of unpalatable decisions to make when finalising their sides for this evening’s Magners League clash between Leinster and Munster at the RDS.

Their respective dilemmas were caused by a combination of injuries, lack of game time for several key members of their squads and above all, an embarrassment of riches in many positions. It all means that several big names are missing from the starting line-ups.

Cheika caused a major stir when preferring New Zealander Isa Nacewa to Rob Kearney, the revelation of the Lions tour to South Africa, at full-back while McGahan has left players of the stature of Paul O’Connell, David Wallace and Jerry Flannery on the bench.