Jackman relishing visit of Warriors

THE first Scots-Irish clash of the week may be a little out of kilter with the standard Six Nations agenda, but this re-fixed Magners League tie between first and fourth will certainly bring plenty of intrigue.

The temperature may have risen since Glasgow Warriors’ last visit was snowed off, but the calibre of player on the pitch certainly hasn’t – the visitors are without 14 members of their first-team squad as they face the league leaders.

Despite the face that Leinster are also without a host of front liners the hosts have sold 14,000 tickets at the RDS and their strength in depth is emphasised by the fact that they still have six internationals in their starting line up.

Mike Ross gets a rare opportunity to show his wares in an all-international front row alongside skipper Bernard Jackman and CJ van der Linde.

Their experience will blend with the youthful Paul Ryan, who this time four years ago was captaining Luke Fitzgerald to Leinster Schools Cup glory for Blackrock College. The promising openside makes his home debut alongside Kevin McLaughlin and Stephen Keogh in a well-balanced back-row.

Outside them, Old Belvedere centres Fergus McFadden and Eoin O’Malley will look to continue their impressive double act that contributed so much to the win over Cardiff, while Simon Keogh comes in for Andrew Conway who is with the Ireland U20 squad tomorrow.

The Glasgow side has one change from the team who earned a draw at Connacht last time out, with Hefin O’Hare replacing Scotland 7s wing Colin Shaw.

After the away win in the Welsh capital, Jackman says his side are brimming with confidence.

“The dressing room afterwards was a pretty happy place to be and it was up there with some of our big Heineken Cup wins,” the hooker said.

“The win over Cardiff was satisfying because everyone stepped up to the plate. It was a real team performance and some of the younger guys really put it up to them, which gives you a good lift.

“Glasgow are a side who always put it up to you. Scottish sides sometimes don’t get the respect they deserve yet themselves and Edinburgh are right up on the top end of the Magners League. The Warriors are a tough team to beat and they drew in Connacht, which was no mean feat because we know how hard it can be to go down to the Sportsground and win.

“They have a very good kicking game, but we have done a lot of scouting on them recently. They, like ourselves, will be missing a few players with Saturday’s international coming up, but they have strong quality backs and a physical pack of forwards.

“How we interpret the laws will be a factor and we have done a lot of work on this area of the game. Teams that adapt quicker (to the laws) will have more success so they’re here to stay at least until the Rugby World Cup so we just have to get on with it.”