Depleted Leinster prepared for another Connacht onslaught
McLaughlin’s availability, after a knee injury, to make his first start of the season will be viewed as timely and gives Schmidt more back- row options in the build-up to the last two rounds of the Heineken Cup over the coming weeks.
Jennings leads the team alongside McLaughlin and the in-form Sean O’Brien, who will again operate from the number eight position. Nathan Hines lines up alongside Devin Toner in the second row and Schmidt has named an overseas front row, with Heinke van der Merwe starting alongside Richardt Strauss and Clint Newland.
The coach has kept Mike Ross in reserve on the bench but the big prop is likely to make an appearance at some stage of what could well be a hugely-contested battle at scrum time.
Schmidt will hope Isa Nacewa can continue his sparkling form from full back and has named young players Andrew Conway and David Kearney on the wings.
Eoin O’Malley takes his place in midfield with Fergus McFadden in the absence of both Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy, while Paul O’Donohoe and Shaun Berne link up at half back.
Schmidt is under no illusions about the danger posed by Connacht, having experienced a tough October battle in Galway and read about and absorbed information from a number of contests over the last couple of seasons between the sides. He was also impressed by Connacht’s performance in a defeat to Munster earlier this week.
Those in the front line — the players — will know even better not to take much notice of the difference between the teams in terms of Magners League placings.
“Connacht are better than their position in the league suggests,” McFadden said. “They’re tough in every department and they always seem to reserve something special for us. We will take absolutely nothing for granted.”
Over 16,500 tickets have been sold for the game and Connacht expect to have at least a quarter of that cheering them on. Still, their position — one from bottom of the league — is somewhat misleading. With 16 points from 10 games, they’re 13 ahead of bottom side Aironi and just one behind Newport Gwent Dragons. A win tonight should help them into a more comfortable standing in the table.
Head coach Eric Elwood is still reeling from the loss to Munster on Monday; he’s especially annoyed that a late assault yielded nothing but frustration. His side heaped pressure on Munster’s creaking scrum and also contested well out of touch. It’s enough to suggest that a less than full Leinster outfit will have their work cut out for them.
Well gone are the days when Connacht were the whipping boys of Irish rugby. Not alone are they very competitive these days, they have also proved they can win the big games.
Last week wasn’t one of those days, but they should be all the better for the experience and the mere mention of Leinster and the RDS should be enough motivation to want to put that behind them.
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