Osborne Poised To Make Leinster Debut At RDS

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has made five personnel changes for their opening GUINNESS PRO14 home match of the season against the Ospreys at the RDS on Friday (kick-off 7.35pm).

Tickets for the second round clash are still on sale on leinsterrugby.ie or on match day from 6pm at the Ticket Office based inside the Anglesea Road gate. Leinster Rugby Season Ticket packs will be available for collection tomorrow evening at the RDS both before and after the game – supporters must bring their 2019/20 Season Ticket card with them.

Compared to the side that secured 32-27 bonus point win away to Benetton Rugby, there is a new back-three with James Lowe returning from shoulder surgery for his first appearance since last May’s PRO14 final. He starts alongside full-back Hugo Keenan and Fergus McFadden.

The rest of the Leinster back-line is unchanged, with Ross Byrne and Jamison Gibson-Park directing operations again from half-back. Peter Dooley, Ronan Kelleher and Michael Bent get their second successive outing together in the front row, while Scott Fardy comes in to captain the province from the engine room.

Josh Murphy gets the nod to start at blindside flanker, joining Will Connors and Caelan Doris in the back row, and there could be RDS debuts for young replacements Michael Milne and Harry Byrne who came off the bench to make their Leinster senior bows in Treviso last Saturday.

Dublin University scrum half Rowan Osborne is poised to win his first Leinster cap having impressed in their pre-season win Coventry and over the last number of weeks for defending champions Leinster ‘A’ in the Celtic Cup.

LEINSTER (v Ospreys): Hugo Keenan; Fergus McFadden, Rory O’Loughlin, Joe Tomane, James Lowe; Ross Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Peter Dooley, Ronan Kelleher, Michael Bent, Devin Toner, Scott Fardy (capt), Josh Murphy, Will Connors, Caelan Doris.

Replacements: James Tracy, Michael Milne, Vakh Abdaladze, Ross Molony, Max Deegan, Rowan Osborne, Harry Byrne, Conor O’Brien.