One eye on Ireland squads as Leinster travel to Swansea

Head coach Leo Cullen talks to Jimmy O'Brien during Leinster Rugby squad training at UCD 

It’s hard not to look ahead another week, to games on the international front, as Leinster make the short hop across the Irish Sea to face Ospreys at the Swansea.com Stadium on Friday night (kick-off 7.35pm).

Ireland face Wales in Cardiff on Saturday week while an Ireland ‘A’ side operating under the watchful eyes of Mike Prendergast and his coaching staff will face an English equivalent in Bristol’s Ashton Gate the evening before.

Leo Cullen has had the luxury of drafting in five Ireland squad players to his starting XV for this one. Ciaran Frawley gets a first start at No.10 since mid-October, Jamie Osborne lines out at full-back and Jimmy O’Brien on the wing.

Jack Boyle and Gus McCarthy are the other two. They go in a front row completed by Rabah Slimani who, like that quintet, has yet to feature in the Six Nations despite their duties with the Ireland and France squads to date.

This is a timely run, in that sense.

It’s unlikely that Simon Easterby will make a host of changes to his XV and 23 for the game in the Principality against a poor Welsh side. The down weeks on either side of the fixture will be just one factor to mitigate against that.

Which brings us back to Bristol. The five mentioned already will surely feature in one or other of Ireland’s games across the Irish Sea in the next eight days but others on duty in Swansea should be harbouring similar ambitions.

Tommy O’Brien is back from injury for the first time since December, Hugh Cooney has already spent time in Ireland’s senior camp, while someone like Scott Penny needs to be involved at that level to push on to the next level.

Penny was one of the standouts on an Ireland U20s side that won a Grand Slam six years ago. He had already made his Leinster senior debut by then, but he is still only 78 caps into his senior career all these years later.

Scott Penny was named on the URC Elite XV of the Year after the 2022/23 season

Now 25, he was named on the URC Elite XV of the Year after the 2022-23 season. He was part of the wider Ireland squad around that time too, but Penny is operating in a back row area that is a huge source of strength for his province and his country.

He is one of numerous players to find their pathway blocked at Leinster. Many have stuck at it year after year while struggling to get regular URC game time and finding themselves on the outside looking in come Champions Cup weeks.

Some have made the decision to go elsewhere. Ross Molony finally moved on to Bath last summer, Harry Byrne is on loan at Bristol and the front row pair of Lee Barron and Michael Milne will move to Munster at the end of this term.

Games like this one, where the main front-liners are away on Test duties, are worth their weight in gold. All the more so with that ‘A’ game around the corner, but the trick is to service the team while trying to stand out yourself.

“It’s important to do the basics well,” said Penny. “As a group in general, don’t try to get outside your comfort zone. When you come into the team and you haven’t been playing for a while you have to fit in first before you can show other stuff.

“You don’t want to be coming in and messing up so it is important that everyone understands what the game plan is. You can show what you are about after that but it is important that people don’t go off themselves and do something reckless.” 

Ospreys: J Walsh, D Kasende, E Boshoff, K Williams, K Giles; O Williams, R Morgan-Williams; G Phillips, S Parry, T Botha; J Ratti, J Fender; H Deaves, J Tipuric, M Morris.

Leinster: J Osborne; T O’Brien, H Cooney, C Tector, J O’Brien; C Frawley, L McGrath; J Boyle, G McCarthy, R Slimani; D Mangan, B Deeny; M Deegan, S Penny, J Culhane.

Referee: F Russo (FIR).