Internationals Won’t Worry Us, Says Bradley

…Michael Bradley…

Ahead of tonight’s Magners League clash in Galway, Connacht coach Michael Bradley has been quick to play down the importance of the return of a number of Irish internationals to the Leinster line-up.

Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll will make his first competitive start of the season, as will Girvan Dempsey and Shane Horgan, as Leinster travel west to the Sportsground (kick-off 6.30pm).

Michael Cheika has also included Malcolm O’Kelly and Gordon D’Arcy, who have both returned to full fitness after groin and shoulder injuries, on his bench for the first of this season’s interprovincial meetings in the league.

Leinster certainly boast a formidable squad, but Connacht will not let that fact worry them. Apart from Leinster’s erratic form, the westerners have already faced four teams full of international players this term – Border Reivers, the Ospreys, the Llanelli Scarlets and Edinburgh – scoring two wins and a draw.

Bradley, who has made one change to the side that drew 22-22 with Edinburgh last week (Darren Yapp comes in at outside centre for the injured John Hearty), has drawn heart from the effort shown by his charges in recent weeks.

He said: “The effort from the players has been excellent and it has been reflected in the results. This will be another encounter for us, especially as Leinster have all their internationals back.

“But the teams we have played to date have all been laden with internationals and we have acquitted ourselves well against them. This will be a new test – games between the Irish provinces always have a different edge to them and the players cannot wait for it.”

It has been a long time since Connacht tasted victory over their eastern rivals – two-and-a-half years to be precise – but circumstances, with Leinster likely to take a while to gel together, could play into their hands.

Bradley added: “We need to stick to own our game plan and not worry about them. We have prepared well this season and have been rewarded, to a good degree, for the effort put in – hopefully that can continue against Leinster.”