Dan Leavy leads Leinster tyros as big guns Chicago-bound

Leinster 24 Connacht 13: Forget revenge. Last season’s Guinness PRO12 final loss to Connacht in Edinburgh had little or nothing to do with this Leinster victory.

For most of those wearing blue on Saturday it was about staking a claim for the future rather than atoning for the past.

With Joe Schmidt wrapping his favourites in cotton wool before Chicago, only seven of the squad Leinster named for this round seven derby featured last May when Connacht outplayed, outfought, and out-thought the competition bluebloods.