Leinster Prepare For Rematch With Bath

Aside from the usual bumps and bruises, there are no fresh injury concerns for the Leinster management following a good weekend for the province which saw both the senior and ‘A’ sides record round 3 victories.

Jonathan Sexton’s 18-point haul against Bath brought his season’s tally to 88 points in six games in both the Heineken Cup and RaboDirect PRO12.

Last Sunday’s win in Bath marked Leo Cullen’s 75th Heineken Cup appearances (including 12 outings with Leicester Tigers), while his second row colleague Steven Sykes, who missed the game with a virus, could come back into the mix this week.

In other news, Mat Berquist continues to make good progress after his knee surgery and it is hoped that he could return to action early in the New Year.

Meanwhile, Leinster ‘A’ will face London Welsh in round 4 of the British & Irish Cup at Donnybrook this Sunday afternoon (kick-off 2.30pm).

There will be a Christmas party atmosphere at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday when Leinster take on Bath with lots of festive fun before kick-off.

Already over 43,000 tickets have been sold for the rematch with the English side, with sales closing in on the previous Irish pool record attendance of 44,873 (Leinster v Clermont Auvergne in December 2010).

For more information, or to buy tickets for the match click here. Tickets are also on sale from the Leinster Rugby Store (Donnybrook), Spar (Donnybrook) and Ticketmaster outlets nationwide.

The official match programme, available for €;5 around the ground, will also be in a special one-off ‘3D’ format.

As well as that, a charity text campaign will run this week and on the day of the match where Leinster supporters are being asked to text a donation of €;2.50 to help raise essential funds for the province’s five chosen charities for this season – Action Breast Cancer, Barretstown, Bray Lakers, St John Ambulance and Welcome Home.

Simply text the word LEINSTER to 57800 and as well as helping five great charities, all fans who lend their support to the campaign will be automatically entered into a draw to win an all-expenses paid trip for two (including flights, accommodation and match tickets) on the team charter to the round 5 game away to Glasgow Warriors in January.

(€;2.50 per text. Network charges vary. A minimum of *€;1.20 (ex VAT) goes towards Leinster’s five chosen charities. SP Phonovation Ltd. 0818217100. Please note any donations made on 17/12/2011 will raise €;1.73 per text).

Meanwhile, following a significant take up of the ‘One Province’ reduced price ticket initiative, over 3,700 young supporters from clubs and schools around the province have availed of the reduced price €;5 tickets under the scheme and will attend Saturday’s clash.

Clubs and schools’ list: Ardee RFC, Arklow RFC, Ashbourne RFC, Athboy RFC, Birr RFC, Castleknock College, CBS Naas, Cill Dara RFC, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Confey Community College, Coolmine RFC, County Carlow FC, CUS, De la Salle Churchtown, Dublin South Arch Club, Edenderry RFC, Greystones RFC, Halfway House Bunclody, Kilkenny RFC, Longford RFC, Loreto Girls School, Malahide RFC, Monkstown FC, Mount Temple, Mullingar RFC, Navan RFC, New Ross RFC, North Kildare RFC, NUIM Barnhall, Old Bawn Community School, Old Belvedere RFC, Old Wesley RFC, Piper’s Hill School Naas, Pobalscoil Neasain, Portarlington RFC, Portlaoise CBS, Portlaoise RFC, Ratoath RFC, Riverstown Foroige Club, St. David’s Artane, St. David’s Greystones, St. Kevin’s Dunlavin, St. Mary’s Naas, Skerries RFC, Stillorgan RFC, Suttonians RFC, Tullamore RFC, Tullow RFC, Tullow Youth Project, Unidare RFC, Wanderers FC, Wesley College, West Offaly Lions RFC, Wexford Wanderers RFC, Whitecross School Co. Meath, Wicklow RFC