History against Leinster in bid to bounce back

GLASGOW be warned; Leinster will desperately want to bounce back from Wednesday’s shock Magners League defeat to Connacht win a win at Firhill tonight.

But the record books wouldn’t fill Michael Cheika with confidence. The last seven encounters between the teams have all been won by side with home advantage. Leinster’s last success in these parts came with an 18-21 win in the competition almost four years ago.

And there’s more statistics pointing towards a potential defeat for the visitors. Glasgow have only lost once in their last seven encounters in the city and they bid for a clean sweep of home wins against Irish opponents this season.

Cheika’s selection for the game is best described as experimental with the majority of his front-line players wrapped in cotton wool for next week’s Heineken Cup trip to Toulouse.

But amongst those hoping to enhance their reputations is Rhys Ruddock, the 19-year-old son of a former Leinster coach, Mike Ruddock. The fact that brother Ciarán will line up alongside him in the pack will make the night all the more memorable.

Ruddock said: “If you told me at the start of the year that I would have the chance to play two full games for the senior team I would have taken that, so this is another great opportunity for players like myself to try and make an impression. It’s also nice to be playing with Ciarán in the Magners League for the first time because we have played a lot together this season in the AIB League with UCD.

“We know that we’re up against a fantastic side. They (Glasgow) have great power up front and their back-row unit are well regarded. Across their backline there’s a huge array of talent, superbly marshalled by Dan Parks at out-half. He pins teams back and punishes any errors so we’ll have to extra vigilant in our discipline this week. Max Evans has real pace out wide while their full-back (Bernardo) Stortoni is another threat.

“There are a lot of changes to our team this week, but we’re going to approach this game in a positive manner. Training has been intense and even though we know we’re not favourites it’s a challenge the boys are relishing.

“There’s a strong determination to uphold the traditions of the jersey and we’ll take confidence from the manner in which the team has ground out victories over the last few months. That shows a certain level of mental toughness, which is good. But the biggest objective for us this week is to stick to the game-plan even if there are spells when things are going against us.”

The Warriors have made two changes, one enforced, to the team that defeated Ulster last weekend.

Scotland captain Chris Cusiter is given the nod at scrum-half, moving Mark McMillan to the bench, whilst Hefin O’Hare takes his place on the wing as DTH van der Merwe is unavailable due to a dead leg.

Cusiter said: “It’s a huge game for the club. We need to get the four points to keep moving up the table.

“There are just two games to go and we know that if we don’t take advantage of this opportunity then the season could come to a pretty quick end. The teams that win and do well are the teams that perform at their best at this time of year. We need to produce our best rugby to secure a place in the play-offs and the boys are feeling fresh so I think we’re in a good place.”