Goodman To Make Leinster Debut

The Leinster team to face the Ospreys in Sunday afternoon's RaboDirect PRO12 showdown at the Liberty Stadium (kick-off 4pm) has been named.

New Zealander Andrew Goodman will make his debut for the province at inside centre in a team which shows a number of changes to the side that defeated the Cardiff Blues last weekend.

David Kearney is one of only two players retained in the starting back-line and he moves to full-back with Andrew Conway and Fionn Carr named on the wings.

Ireland scrum half Isaac Boss, who makes his 55th appearance, partners Ian Madigan at half-back with the latter shifting from full-back where he has featured in recent weeks.

The 30-year-old Goodman recently finished playing for Tasman in the ITM Cup and trained with the Leinster squad for the first time on Bank Holiday Monday.

Leinster skills and kicking coach Richie Murphy, speaking at the time, said: "Andrew has come in and it will have to be a steep learning curve for him, we'd like him to be involved at the weekend.

"He is going to be centre or at number 10. He will be in the midfield three and we're looking forward to seeing what he brings. He is excited about being here and already he seems to be fitting in so well."

Up front, Shane Jennings captains Leinster from the back row alongside number 8 Leo Auva'a and Rhys Ruddock who made his first senior appearance this season against Cardiff.

Damian Browne partners Devin Toner, who is set to make his 107th appearance for his home province, while the replacements bench is comprised completely of Leinster Academy products.

LEINSTER (v Ospreys): David Kearney; Andrew Conway, Brendan Macken, Andrew Goodman, Fionn Carr; Ian Madigan, Isaac Boss; Heinke van der Merwe, Tom Sexton, Jamie Hagan, Damian Browne, Devin Toner, Rhys Ruddock, Shane Jennings (capt), Leo Auva'a.

Replacements: James Tracy, Jack McGrath, Martin Moore, Ben Marshall, Jordi Murphy, John Cooney, Noel Reid, Sam Coghlan Murray.

Previewing Saturday's RaboDirect PRO12 final against Leinster with Cóilín Duffy, Ulster winger Andrew Trimble said: "We really motivated for this game. People are talking about us being the best Ulster side in a few years, we had that record of 13 wins in a row at the start of the year. We want to win trophies, and there's no point having those records unless we back them up."

Connacht elite player development officer Jimmy Duffy chats about the province's latest programme, 'Grassroots to Green Shirts', which they hope will increase the number of indigenous players coming through the provincial player pathway. In the westerners' current senior squad, there are 19 players who have come through the Connacht system.

Speaking about Connacht's 'Grassroots to Green Shirts' initiative, the province's CEO Tom Sears said: "We like to think we're innovative in our approach, that we're looking at things slightly differently. We've shown that the production line is working with the young players coming through. The system is working, we just need a bit more investment to make sure we can get more players through."

Connacht's head of commercial and marketing Alex Saul talks about some exciting developments off the pitch for the province, including their 'Grassroots to Green Shirts' crowd-funding initiative which gives fans the chance to play their part in growing and developing the future stars of Connacht and Irish rugby.

Speaking after the 30-11 home win over the Dragons, Connacht head coach Eric Elwood said: "We're a little bit disappointed we didn't get the bonus point, but the good thing is we got a good victory at home and we had a great crowd. We're back on the horse and it sets us up for Harlequins (next week)."

Speaking about recovering from the disappointing defeat to the Scarlets, young Leinster centre Noel Reid said: "We went over looking for a result and we didn't perform the way we wanted to. So we need a big week now of training and focusing on the things that didn't go our way - the breakdown in particular."