Lions begin to filter back in as Leinster seek first win of season against Sharks
Tadhg Furlong signs autographs after training as part of the Leinster Rugby 12 county tour at Greystones RFC, Wicklow. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
For Leinster the season starts here as five of their 14 British and Irish Lions from the summer’s successful tour of Australia stretch their legs for the first time this season against the Sharks at the Aviva Stadium.
This is their first home game after two opening losses to the Stormers and the Bulls in South Africa. With just one point on the board and 14 teams above them on the table, there is work to be done, ground to be made-up.
Having Tadhg Furlong and Ronan Kelleher in the front row will feed into that. So too the presence of Josh van der Flier, who captains the team for the first time, in the back row. And the input of James Lowe and Jamie Osborne out back.
That still leaves nine of the touring contingent to return.
It’s no coincidence that the majority of Leinster players who featured heavily in the three-Test series against Australia are still absent. Tadhg Furlong is the only one of seven Leinster starters from the third Test on show here and he sat out most of last season.
Kelleher came off the bench that last day in Sydney.
Knowing when to bring players back from such a career-high is a delicate operation. The post-Lions slump is a very real thing – enough players have said as much down the years – so there is jeopardy in that for Leinster this term.
Sean O’Brien has been there and bought the red tee-shirt. A tourist with the Lions in 2013 and 2017, he knows what it is to come down off the mountain from one of the game’s greatest honours and start again from the beginning.
“Tours obviously take a bit of a toll on the body but back when we were involved in that, in my career, you only had a couple of weeks off. The lads have had a good break. They've had five, six weeks off and some lads obviously didn't play as many games as others over there.
“So there'll be a bit of freshness there, and then there'll be a bit of itchiness at this stage to try and actually get back playing. You kind of miss it when you have a bit of a break as well. So, and the challenges would be just to fit back into our system and get up and running.”
O’Brien was the most senior member of the coaching staff to stay behind in Dublin and work with those Lions while Leo Cullen and everyone else were off in South Africa for the two weeks and he liked what he saw.
The hope is that winning that Wallabies series will give those involved a “a taste for success” and leave them wanting more, starting with the Sharks who lost in Glasgow first up and managed a draw in Wales against the Dragons.
Head coach John Plumtree has taken note of O’Brien’s take on the dearth of physical intent that was an issue for Leinster on their unprofitable two-week tour and welcomes back forwards Bongi Mbonambi and Vincent Koch onto his bench.
Both are back having featured for the Springboks in the national team’s successful Rugby Championship defence while Etah Hooker and Makazole Mapimpi go straight into the backline along with the likes of Lukhanyo Am and Jaden Hedrikse.
Other Boks have been given more time to recover from Test exertions, among them Siya Kolisi, Ox Nché, Grant Williams and Eben Etzebeth. The Sharks, even without them, are still a fine team on paper. The reality has all too often been different.
Leinster will look to ensure that continues.
J Osborne; J O’Brien, R Henshaw, C Frawley, J Lowe; H Byrne, F Gunne; P McCarthy, R Kelleher, T Furlong; B Deeny, R Baird; A Soroka, J van der Flier, M Deegan.
G McCarthy, J Boyle, T Clarkson, D Mangan, J Culhane, L McGrath, H Coobey, J Kenny.
E van der Merwe, E Hooker, J Julius, L Am, M Mapimpi, J Smith, J Hendrikse; S Matanzima, F Mbatha, R Dreyer; J Jenkins, M Orie; P Buthulezi, M Tshituka, V Tshituka.
B Mbonambi, D Bleuler, V Koch, B Hlekani, N Hatton, R Braude, S Masuku, F Venter.
Craig Evans (WRU).
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