Celtic Cup: Leinster Unchanged For Glasgow

Leinster – boosted for their Celtic Cup assault by an unchanged line-up – revisit the scene of their disappointing Heineken Cup exit on Friday night.

Celtic Cup Quarter-Final: Friday, April 29
Leinster v Glasgow, Lansdowne Road, 7.30pm (live Setanta Sports Ireland)

With their European exploits at an end and former coach Declan Kidney departed, Leinster could end a topsy-turvy season on song with Celtic Cup silverware.

It would be the ideal fillip for the province’s coaching trio of Bobby Byrne, Gerry Murphy and Roly Meates, who steered their side to an exciting 30-23 defeat of Friday’s quarter-final opponents Glasgow, two weeks ago in Hughenden.

Friday will see British and Irish Lions’ Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy partner up in midfield, with Kiwi fly-half David Holwell again joined by Irish international Guy Easterby at half-back.

Retiring number 8 Victor Costello starts at the base of the province’s scrum for his 126th cap.

Lansdowne Road – the scene of Leinster’s 2001 Celtic League triumph – has been kind to the men in blue with five wins from five there over the past four years of Celtic rugby.

Glasgow were beaten there in the 2001/02 League semi-final – 35-13 – and this season’s two League wins at Lansdowne have both seen Leinster in record-breaking form.

January’s seven-try 55-3 defeat of the Dragons was their biggest ever home league win and just last month, Holwell kicked a Celtic League record-equalling eight penalties in the 31-25 win over the Scarlets.

Wednesday saw the talented 30-year-old New Zealander awarded the province’s Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Leinster Player of the Month award for March for his excellent displays.

Lions captain O’Driscoll’s fellow New Zealand tourists Shane Horgan, Denis Hickie and Malcolm O’Kelly have also been included on the replacements bench for the Glasgow tie.

Head-to-head since 1999: Glasgow 2, Leinster 7
Celtic form: Leinster: LLWWW; Glasgow: LLWWL
Top League scorers: Leinster: David Holwell 158 points / Denis Hickie 6 tries; Glasgow: Dan Parks 153 / Rory Lamont, Sean Lamont, Kenny Logan 5 each
Cup records: 03/04: Leinster: Quarter-finalists (lost 23-23 (tries count-back) v Ulster (away)); Glasgow: Semi-finalists (lost 13-20 v Ulster (home))

LEINSTER:

(15) Girvan Dempsey
(14) Gary Brown
(13) Brian O’Driscoll
(12) Gordon D’Arcy
(11) Kieran Lewis
(10) David Holwell
(9) Guy Easterby
(1) Reggie Corrigan (Capt)
(2) Shane Byrne
(3) Ricky Nebbett
(4) Ben Gissing
(5) Leo Cullen
(6) Des Dillon
(7) Keith Gleeson
(8) Victor Costello

Replacements:

(16) Emmett Byrne
(17) David Blaney
(18) Malcolm O’Kelly
(19) Shane Jennings
(20) Brian O’Riordan
(21) Shane Horgan
(22) Denis Hickie

Glasgow: Calvin Howarth; Rory Lamont, Andrew Henderson, Scott Barrow, Sean Lamont; Dan Parks, Graeme Beveridge; Kevin Tkachuk, Scott Lawson, Euan Murray, Joe Beardshaw, Dan Turner, Steve Swindall, Jon Petrie (Capt), Paul Dearlove.

Replacements: Fergus Thomson, Ben Prescott, Andrew Hall, Andrew Wilson, Sam Pinder, Kenny Logan, Andy Craig.

Referee: Nigel Williams (Wales)