Star names give Leinster boost ahead of Murrayfield test

SOME of Leinster’s big names will return for Friday’s RaboDirect Pro12 meeting with Edinburgh at Murrayfield (kick-off 7.30pm).

Joe Schmidt can call upon the likes of Isaac Boss, Sean Cronin, Leo Cullen, Shane Jennings, Fergus McFadden, Eoin Reddan and Jonathan Sexton for the trip to the Scottish capital and they could be included in the team which will be named on Thursday lunchtime.

Isa Nacewa’s 14-point haul in the 30-20 victory over Connacht in the league last time out brought his season’s tally to 70 points in six games and 301 career points for the province in 81 appearances.

Ireland second row Devin Toner scored his first try in Leinster colours against the westerners last time out, with Luke Fitzgerald touching down for the second successive league game.

Second row Steven Sykes also featured in that victory and he continued his rehabilitation from the knee injury which had ruled him out of the opening weeks of the season with another productive workout for the Leinster ‘A’ team that defeated Ulster 46-19 in Donnybrook on Friday night.

Dominic Ryan, who led the ‘A’ team for the first time in the victory, also benefited from an hour’s action following his own injury problems.

It is anticipated that the majority of Leinster’s 14 World Cup representatives should return to action either this week or ahead of the Munster derby in the Aviva Stadium on Friday week.

Meanwhile, Connacht captain Gavin Duffy is leading a marketing drive to get locals to back the province in their Heineken Cup campaign.

The Front Up, Rise Up drive has been launched ahead of Connacht’s opening game against French rugby giants Toulouse at the Sportsground in their first home Heineken Cup match on Saturday, November 19.

“We are calling on all the people of Connacht to come out and support our team,” he said.

“Tickets for the match will be hard to come by but there are many ways you can support the team, mainly through our Facebook page where you can now upload a video, post a picture or simply type your message of support which will be read by the team in the run up to our Heineken Cup games.

“When we played Toulon in the semi-final of the Amlin Challenge Cup two seasons ago, teams and schools from across the province sent in their messages and we had them all displayed on boards around the dressing room.

“It really hammered home the support we had from all over and it was a huge motivator for the team. This year we face a similar challenge so we’re asking people from every corner of the province to do the same and upload their messages of support to our Facebook page.”