Depleted Leinster keen to demonstrate depth

LEINSTER coach Joe Schmidt can name three senior Irish internationals in the team to face Aironi at the RDS tonight despite having 13 players away on Six Nations duty and another two out injured.

A third, Isaac Boss, will be on the bench, while there is also the possibility Shane Jennings, who did not appear as a replacement against Italy last Saturday, may be released.

As it is, Devin Toner, Kevin McLaughlin and Rhys Ruddock will all be afforded much-needed game time against the Italian visitors in the Magners League tonight with Ruddock wearing the armband.

As expected, Schmidt has opted for a team that yo-yos wildly between grizzled vets and the greenest of rookies, most obvious example being the nine years and 82 appearances separating Stephen Keogh and Brendan Macken who makes his debut.

“I get a bit of slagging about it,” said Keogh of his elder statesman status, “but yeah, I enjoy that role. There are a lot of young lads here, a lot of good young lads. They train hard and work hard, it’s good to feed off their enthusiasm, you know? In the gym and out on the pitch training.”

Keogh takes his place in what is very experienced pack at this level. It is in the backs where Leinster will look a little wet behind the ears against an Aironi side missing five Italian internationals due to the Six Nations.

Macken, who starts at outside centre, is the least experienced but Andrew Conway, David Kearney and Paul O’Donohue are others yet to break into double digits in terms of provincial appearances.

League points aside, tonight’s game provides some of Schmidt’s fringe players with an excellent chance to put up their hands prior to the Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leicester at the Aviva Stadium in April.

Among them are Eoin O’Malley, Heinke van der Merwe, McLaughlin and Toner, even if a place on the replacements bench would appear to be the height of all their hopes right now.

“There are a lot of big games coming up,” said Keogh. “February’s a good springboard for lads who haven’t been playing a lot to push in for the Heineken Cup quarter-final coming up. It’s a good springboard for lads and you can get the reward.”

A win for Leinster would see them leapfrog the Scarlets into second place in the table and a bonus point would leave them just five points behind Munster who are away to Treviso on Sunday, the same day as Ulster take on the Ospreys in Wales.

Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin has been less hamstrung by international commitments and will have all his big South African names available as well as Nevin Spence, Ian Humphreys, Declan Fitzpatrick, Willie Faloon, Chris Henry, Nigel Brady and Paul Marshall who all featured for the Irish Wolfhounds last week.

The Ospreys fixture will be Ulster’s first in the Magners League since the start of January as the league made way for Heineken Cup and Six Nations matches but the province has won three games on the trot in all competitions and a fourth would allow them jump above Ospreys into fifth.

LEINSTER (v Aironi): I Nacewa; A Conway, B Macken, E O’Malley, D Kearney; I Madigan, P O’Donohoe; H van der Merwe, R Strauss, C Newland; K McLaughlin, D Toner; R Ruddock, D Ryan, S Keogh.

Replacements: J Harris-Wright, J McGrath, S Shawe, E O’Donoghue, P Ryan/S Jennings, I Boss, I McKinley, N Morris.

ULSTER (squad v Ospreys): Forwards: J Cronin, D Fitzpatrick, P McAllister, B Young, A Whitten, N Brady, A Kyriacou, R Caldwell, N McComb, J Muller, T Barker, P Wannenburg, TJ Anderson, W Faloon, C Henry, R Diack.

Backs: R Pienaar, P Marshall, I Humphreys, N O’Connor, I Whitten, N Spence, J Shiels, L Marshall, S Danielli, T Seymour, C Gilroy, M McCrea, D McIlwaine, J Smith, A D’Arcy.