Reid gets his shot in the Irish derby

Matt O’Connor has named relative rookie Reid in the 12 jersey while Fitzgerald, reintegrating well after a myriad of injuries, is named outside him rather than in his usual wing berth. There’s also a different partnership at half-back for the RaboDirect Pro12 clash, with Ian Madigan linking up with Eoin Reddan.

Madigan will be keen to remind national coach Joe Schmidt of his talents having lost his place to Jimmy Gopperth for the Blues’ opening Heineken Cup clashes. There’s a school of thought that Madigan has fallen behind Paddy Jackson in the out-half pecking order for the autumn internationals, and with Schmidt this week calling on the provinces to give as many of his 34-man squad gametime as possible this weekend, Madigan will feel he has something to prove.

Connacht have made three changes to the side that hammered Zebre in Italy in the Heineken Cup last week. Two of those are forced by injury; Tiernan O’Halloran lines out instead of Danie Poolman on the right wing while Gavin Duffy slots in for James So’oialo at full-back. Mata Fifita replaces Andrew Browne at blindside flanker.

Having been mugged by Connacht at the Sportsground last year, Leinster are taking no chances here, especially given their need to recover a poor start to the league and rise up the table. Shutting down the westerners’ Scottish international fly-half Dan Parks is near the top of their agenda, according to skills and kicking coach, Richie Murphy.

“Dan’s strengths are there for everyone to see, he has a strong kicking game and marshals the Connacht team around really well.

“Last weekend he really controlled teams in Zebre for them and, given time and space, he can hurt you. It will be up to our guys to make sure we cut down on his time and space and make sure our backfield cover is really good and we take away those opportunities.”

Murphy admitted Leinster are still finding their feet this term since O’Connor took the reins from Schmidt, with plenty scope for improvement.

“We’re very happy to have beaten two good teams in two weeks in the Heineken Cup, but where we are at is a hard thing to measure. If you look at the season as a whole so far, we probably feel we that we haven’t reached the levels where we want to be.

“Connacht are coming to the RDS and it is a massive game. Last year I think we might have taken a bonus point off them in the last few minutes, the same the year before and, while we lost down there last year, they also ran us very close here at the RDS.

“They are trying to play a little bit more (under Pat Lam) and that takes a little bit of time trying to get used to. It doesn’t matter how well or not they’re playing, it’s an interpro match and it will be tough, that’s always been there between the provinces.”

Leinster prop Jack McGrath acknowledged that the 34-6 kicking Connacht administered in September of last year isn’t far from their minds: “Yeah, it’s a sore point for us alright, these lads are always tough and ever improving. We’ll give them every respect and it will be a good game.”

Lam admitted the injuries to his wide dangermen had disrupted preparations for the clash but hopes he has the right game plan in place to make life uncomfortable for Leinster again.

“Coming up against Leinster at the RDS — it doesn’t get much bigger than that. The current Rabo champions, they’ve consistently been the best team in Europe for the last number of years.

“These are the games you relish and we can’t wait for the challenge. We have trained well on the back of a good win in the Heineken Cup and of course we have a plan to execute in order to give us the best opportunity to beat this team.”