Best is yet to come from Leinster, warns O’Brien
Though the province got their Heineken Cup defence back on track with at Brive last week, O’Brien has warned that the best is yet to come from Michael Cheika’s side.
He reasoned: “We’re winning games, which is the most important thing, but as a group we know there’s room for improvement in our play.
“We’re not firing on all cylinders; we’re fighting hard to grind out wins and we will need to be sharp against a strong Ulster side.”
O’Brien is especially impressed with the northerner’s forward unit.
He said: “I have played against Willie Falloon before and he is a good up-and-coming player while Chris Henry is playing well in the back-row so we will have to be really sharp to counter the threats. It’s important we compete with them from the off. Ulster don’t need much encouragement to want to beat Leinster. From our perspective, there is great competition for places, so there is no way anyone will take anything for granted.”
Coach Cheika has made a number of positional and personnel changes to the side which won in Brive.
With captain Leo Cullen rested, Brian O’Driscoll takes the armband and partners Gordon D’Arcy in the centre. There’s a new half-back pairing with Chris Keane starting alongside Shaun Berne. Girvan Dempsey is on the right wing with Rob Kearney and Isa Nacewa continuing at full-back and left wing respectively.
Ronan McCormack lines up alongside Bernard Jackman and Mike Ross in the front row, with Devin Toner partnering Nathan Hines. The back-row remains unchanged from last week. CJ van der Linde is named amongst a strong replacements panel which includes Malcolm O’Kelly, Jonathan Sexton and Luke Fitzgerald.
Meanwhile Ulster suffered a second major blow ahead of tonight’s clash as Lions flanker Stephen Ferris joins skipper Paddy Wallace on the sidelines.
While Wallace’s absence is part of the Ireland Player Management programme, Ferris has failed to recover sufficiently from an ankle injury.
Coach Brian McLaughlin brings in Ian Whitten to partner the in-form Darren Cave in midfield while New Zealander Tamaiti Horua starts his first competitive game for Ulster as a stand-in for Ferris. There is also a change at hooker with Nigel Brady replacing Andi Kyriacou who has made seven starts from eight games. Chris Henry is re-instated as skipper in the absence of Wallace with Robbie Diack moving to the bench while Dan Tuohy replaces Ed O’Donoghue. Andrew Trimble stays at left wing with Simon Danielli remaining on the bench.
Tuohy has now recovered from the shuddering clash with former All Black Gerry Collins last month and slots in alongside Ryan Caldwell.
“I just cannot wait to play again,” said Gloucester-born Tuohy, a young lock forward with Irish qualifications who sat out four games due to concussion. This is not only my first Magners League game at Ravenhill, but it’s against Leinster. There’s no better incentive to get back into a winning mentality. If you cannot get excited about facing a squad such as Leinster, there’s something wrong. We are not panicking just because we failed in Europe last week. Nothing major has gone wrong, we are still second in the Mangers League and have a great chance to go first. So we are really clued in for this game.
“For me it’s good to be able to come up against players who you have admired over the years. Playing against season Ireland internationals is a real bonus,” said the former Ireland U21 lock who moved to Ulster from Exeter Chiefs during the summer.
“It would be nice to able to play alongside these players but I’m a long way from that mix just yet. I suppose if I want to be there, I have to perform. Ravenhill tonight will be the perfect platform.”
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