Sexton back to boost Leinster semi-final bid
Joe Schmidt has been afforded the opportunity of using his first-choice out-half for the fixture courtesy of Declan Kidney’s decision to start him on the bench for last Sunday’s Six Nations tie in Murrayfield.
Also in the starting line-up are Leo Cullen who, like Sexton, saw action as a replacement against Scotland, as well as Fergus McFadden who was unfortunate to drop out of the matchday 22 having started the fixtures against Italy and France.
Scotland’s Nathan Hines is also back on the scene but will start on the bench.
Sexton will, naturally, be the centre of attention given the debate surrounding his tug-of-war with Ronan O’Gara but this is a game that possesses a far greater collective importance for both clubs.
Like their hosts, the Scarlets welcome back their Welsh contingent, youthful though it is, with out-half Rhys Priestland, scrum-half Tavis Knoyle and the back row duo of Rob McCusker and Josh Turnbull all parachuted into the starting side.
The visitors lie just one point behind Leinster after their win against Edinburgh last week, one which propelled them back into the mix for a semi-final spot.
“The Scarlets have been on fire this year and the whole top of the table is crammed up,” said Isa Nacewa who continues a superb individual season by being named as Leinster’s player of the month for February yesterday.
“So, with the Scarlets having had a good win against us here (in the RDS) a couple of years ago, that’s still lodged in the back of the guy’s memories, and they’re going to bring a strong squad as well so we’ll have to be prepared.”
Nigel Davies’ outfit have won this head-to-head just once in eight meetings since that shock 52-23 defeat of Leinster at the RDS in October of 2007 and Leinster will be keen to build on that record and the wins they have fashioned recently whilst their front-line internationals were away.
“After the turn of the New Year we had a good talk together (as a squad) and spoke about how important the next two months were going to be,” said Nacewa “especially leading into the Six Nations.
“The squad as a whole got the team into a really good position while the internationals were away. There was a good atmosphere in the camp especially coming out of the two Heineken Cup wins and leading into the break.”
With the seven starters from last weekend’s 21-18 win given the weekend off, Schmidt will still have to lean rather heavily on the younger brigade with the majority of those ‘greenhorns’ punching in tonight in the back-line.
Niall Morris, Eoin O’Malley and Dave Kearney all start and Nacewa has been impressed with the men who have taken their chance in wins against Treviso and Aironi and, to a lesser extent, the 11-3 loss in Cardiff in recent weeks.
“It’s healthy to have that much competition within the team and in the backline especially. There are only a certain amount of spots up for grabs and everyone’s fighting for them and pushing (each other) hard each week.”
I Nacewa; N Morris, E O’Malley, F McFadden, D Kearney; J Sexton, I Boss; H van der Merwe, R Strauss, S Wright; L Cullen, D Toner; K McLaughlin, D Ryan, R Ruddock.
D Newton; G North, R King, G Maule, J Ajuwa, R Priestland, Tavis Knoyle; I Thomas, R Lawrence, R Thomas; L Reed, A Shingler; R McCusker, J Turnbull, B Morgan.
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