Leinster Name Squad To Face Brive

Shane Horgan, who became only the second Leinster player to pass the 25-try mark in Europe in the recent 39-7 victory over the Scarlets, has been named in the extended Leinster panel alongside Brian O’Driscoll who was the province’s first  player to reach the landmark.

The Ireland duo who, alongside Rob Kearney and Gordon D’Arcy, were also try scorers last time out in the round 4 victory, are included in the squad alongside the likes of Nathan Hines, Isa Nacewa and CJ van der Linde.

Cian Healy and Jonathan Sexton could both be in line to make their 50th appearances for the province should they feature in Saturday’s game.

The team and replacements will be confirmed by Leinster boss Michael Cheika on Friday afternoon.

Speaking ahead of the RDS encounter, Cheika said that the squad are looking forward to playing their first game in three weeks against an improving Brive side.

“It has been pretty difficult to get everyone into an environment where we can get some training done because the fields have been pretty heavily affected and the conditions haven’t been the greatest,” he admitted.

“But somehow we have come through it without missing any days. We did a lot of contact work today and everybody was chomping at the bit to get stuck into that, so that’s always a bit of good fun!

“We’re lucky in one respect that we got a game in over Christmas. The international players, who have had big workloads, understand what’s required when you have a lay-off for a couple of weeks. They have done it before.

“So you’ve got to take the positive out of it that they have had a bit of a break in the middle (of the season).

“There’s always a risk that you haven’t played together but we’ve got to deal with that and other teams are dealing with the same issue.

“For (Shane) Jennings maybe more than (Jonathan) Sexton, nothing replaces playing (and) both of the players who took their places played well. So it makes selection quite difficult.

“The team that we’re playing now is very different to the Brive side we played in October. In their last four games they have beaten Toulouse and Perpignan at home and defeated Albi away in the snow.

“It was an interesting game to watch because the entire pitch was white. They have a far more engaging philosophy now, they’re very much more forward orientated with a lot of mauling and a lot of aggression.

“They’re very hard on the ground and the two new coaches have obviously put their own stamp on things in the contact area, which is something that we’re very mindful of…they’re very combative and their backs are giving them a good platform to get into the game as well.

“If we remember back to the Castres match that we played down in France last year, when they defeated us it was a bit of a catalyst for their climb up the table when they were running second last and they had nothing really to play for in that match.

“I think we have been in the business for too long to fall into that trap. So no matter who they send (over), we have a job to do.

“We have put ourselves into a situation where every match is a cup final by losing the first game. And we’re still right in the middle of that.

“Even though we have had a few wins since then, that changes nothing from the fact that we have to win this game.”

Almost 14,500 tickets have now been sold for the visit of Brive on Saturday and tickets are still available to purchase here, from Ticketmaster outlets nationwide and the Leinster Rugby Store and Spar shop in Donnybrook.

Ticketmaster will also be selling tickets at the RDS from 3pm on matchday.

LEINSTER Squad (v Brive) – Backs (11): Shaun Berne, Gordon D’Arcy, Girvan Dempsey, Shane Horgan, Rob Kearney, Simon Keogh, Isa Nacewa, Paul O’Donohoe, Brian O’Driscoll, Eoin Reddan, Jonathan Sexton.

Forwards (14): Leo Cullen, John Fogarty, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Nathan Hines, Bernard Jackman, Shane Jennings, Ronan McCormack, Kevin McLaughlin, Sean O’Brien, Malcolm O’Kelly, Mike Ross, CJ van der Linde, Stan Wright.