Cronin debut as Leinster name strong side
Former Connacht player Sean Cronin will make his debut against his former manager, relegating Richardt Strauss to the bench while Mike Ross also returns to the front row following an impressive World Cup.
Luke Fitzgerald, who never made it onto the plane to New Zealand, makes his 90th appearance and moves to the wing in a back three which also includes the Kearney brothers, David and Rob.
But the European champions are travelling to a bogey side in Edinburgh and the Scots will give five of their returning World Cup participants the start as they target Leinster up front.
Full-back Chris Paterson, centre, Nick de Luca and the complete Scotland front-row that started their matches against Romania and Argentina, Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford and Geoff Cross, all return while 20-year-old season debutant Matt Scott retains his centre spot.
Another exciting talent in 19-year-old Harry Leonard, who earns his first start for the club since debuting as a replacement against Aironi, lines out at out half. With a blend of youth and experience former Connacht coach Michael Bradley is hoping his side can use their home advantage to pick up a victory.
“The priority for us is to get more points in the RaboDirect Pro12. Home matches are critical so we’ll be looking for a win,” he said.
“The crowd has been immense and were royally entertained at Murrayfield against Munster and were with us all the way against Connacht so similarly, in this match, we need the supporters to get behind the boys and make this home game count.
“Like us, Leinster have a lot of quality players coming back so, while the timing is good for us, it’s also good for Leinster so I think it’ll be a great match.
“Playing at home is obviously an advantage for us and we have the Rugby World Cup boys back so it’s shaping up to be a very exciting game.
“Their return has increased the competition for places, particularly with a full international front-row coming back, who should give us a good platform to launch our backline and our back-row, who have performed well in a number of games so far this season.”
LEINSTER: R Kearney, D Kearney, E O’Malley, F McFadden, L Fitzgerald, J Sexton, I Boss; H van der Merwe, S Cronin, M Ross, L Cullen (capt); D Toner, K McLaughlin, D Ryan; L Auva’a.
Replacements: R Strauss, J McGrath, N White, S Sykes, R Ruddock, J Cooney, I Madigan, F Carr.
EDINBURGH: C Paterson, S Webster, N de Luca, M Scott, T Visser, H Leonard, G Laidlaw; A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Cross, E Lozada, S Turnbull, D Denton, R Grant, S McInally
Replacements: S Lawrie, K Traynor, L Niven, G Gilchrist, N Talei, M Blair, J Thompson, T Brown.
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