Before turning their attention to next week’s interprovincial at the Aviva Stadium, Leinster must first tackle one of the most impressive starters in this season’s GUINNESS PRO12, the second-placed Cardiff Blues.
GUINNESS PRO12: Saturday, October 1
CARDIFF BLUES (2nd) v LEINSTER (4th), BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park, 7.35pm (live TG4/S4C)
Team News: Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has made nine personnel changes from last week’s bonus point win over the Ospreys and three players are involved for the first time this season.
In the back-line, Zane Kirchner and Dave Kearney continue at full-back and on the left wing respectively, while Fergus McFadden returns from injury on the right wing for his first start since the round 1 victory over Benetton Treviso.
Noel Reid continues at inside centre where he is partnered for the first time this season by Rory O’Loughlin who makes his first competitive start for Leinster having appeared as a replacement in two games so far. Jamison Gibson Park starts at scrum half with Jonathan Sexton captaining the province from number 10.
In the pack it is an all-new front row with Jack McGrath, hooker James Tracy and Mike Ross lining up together, while Mick Kearney is joined in the second row by Leinster debutant Ian Nagle who joined the province during the summer but has been out with a shoulder injury over the last few weeks. The Corkman last played in the PRO12 in December 2013 for Munster against the Scarlets.
In the back row, two replacements from last week, Dan Leavy and Rhys Ruddock, start at blindside flanker and number 8 respectively, combining with openside Josh van der Flier who scored two tries in a man-of-the-match performance last Friday.
Looking at the bench, Leinster Academy scrum half Nick McCarthy is in line to make his first appearance of the season and UCD’s Barry Daly, who was recently awarded a contract having been on trial during the summer, is in line to make his provincial bow.
Daly, a talented winger at Ulster Bank League level and an Ireland Sevens international, was involved in Leinster’s pre-season friendlies and scored a try against Bath in the last of those games at Donnybrook.
Meanwhile, Dan Fish returns from injury as Cardiff Blues make five changes for their round 5 showdown with Leinster. The full-back limped off with an ankle injury after the one-point victory over Munster three weeks ago.
Gareth Anscombe reclaims the number 10 jersey in an otherwise unchanged back-line. Up front, Nick Williams is back at number 8 and Gethin Jenkins, Kristian Dacey and Taufa’ao Filise form the front row.
Veteran Wales international Jenkins, who has signed a contract extension, will resume the captaincy for the top four clash.
CARDIFF BLUES: Matthew Morgan; Blaine Scully, Cory Allen, Rey Lee-Lo, Tom James; Gareth Anscombe, Lloyd Williams; Gethin Jenkins (capt), Kristian Dacey, Taufa’ao Filise, George Earle, Josh Turnbull, Sam Warburton, Ellis Jenkins, Nick Williams.
Replacements: Matthew Rees, Rhys Gill, Scott Andrews, Macauley Cook, Josh Navidi, Tomos Williams, Steve Shingler, Dan Fish.
LEINSTER: Zane Kirchner; Fergus McFadden, Rory O’Loughlin, Noel Reid, Dave Kearney; Jonathan Sexton (capt), Jamison Gibson Park; Jack McGrath, James Tracy, Mike Ross, Mick Kearney, Ian Nagle, Dan Leavy, Josh van der Flier, Rhys Ruddock.
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Peter Dooley, Michael Bent, Devin Toner, Jamie Heaslip, Nick McCarthy, Joey Carbery, Barry Daly.
Referee: Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Frank Murphy (Ireland), Ian Davies (Wales)
Television Match Official: Neil Paterson (Scotland)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): Cardiff Blues to win: 8/15; Draw: 20/1; Leinster to win: 8/5
Pre-Match Quotes: John Fogarty (Leinster) – “It’s exciting to look ahead but for us we want to be in a good position before Europe, and a huge part of that is going over to Cardiff and trying to get a result, and that’s what the effort is going to be put into now.
“It’s always exciting to play against Munster, and to be in the Aviva again (next week) is huge. Europe will be exciting when the time comes but prepping for Cardiff now is important, and every week, week on week, trying to develop the game a little bit more.
“Trying to find the right combinations so that we can be competitive at the right time is important. We’re going over to Cardiff looking for a result against what’s going to be tough opposition.
“We want to make sure that we continue to play, to continue to put the opposition under pressure, play in the right areas, take our opportunities and keep growing through the 80 minutes. It’s something that we must keep trying to do, keep striving for. You take what’s good from that and you try and replicate it and add to it.
“I know the players are really hungry to do that, we’re conscious of it. We’re conscious of putting together 80 minutes that we can be proud of and if that gets us the result, happy days.”
Danny Wilson (Cardiff Blues) – “Leinster were very good (against the Ospreys) and very clinical. They showed their strengths up front and their defensive game forced a fair few turnovers and penalties.
“So they are a tough team to play, whether home or away, but we have to take some confidence from Glasgow and Edinburgh at home which were good wins, and Munster, who you can also put in that bracket as a top end side.
“They are a side we lost to last season so we definitely want to put that right but we’re under no illusions that we are playing a fully loaded Leinster. It would be a huge scalp to take.
“But confidence is good, confidence is high off the back of winning four games and we go in knowing it’s a home game and will hopefully perform as we know we can.”
Top Scorers – 2016/17 GUINNESS PRO12: Cardiff Blues – Points: Steve Shingler 28; Tries: Tom James 3; Leinster – Points: Joey Carbery 20; Tries: Josh van der Flier 3
2016/17 TEAM FORM: Cardiff Blues – Played 4, Won 4, 17 points; W 34-16 v Edinburgh (home), W 24-23 v Munster (away), W 23-19 v Glasgow Warriors (home), W 23-21 v Zebre (away); Leinster – Played 4, Won 3, Lost 1, 14 Points; W 20-8 v Benetton Treviso (home), L 33-25 v Glasgow Warriors (away), W 33-20 v Edinburgh (away), W 31-19 v Ospreys (home)
RECENT LEAGUE MEETINGS:
Friday, September 27, 2013 – Leinster 34 Cardiff Blues 20, the RDS
Thursday, February 20, 2014 – Cardiff Blues 22 Leinster 34, Cardiff Arms Park
Friday, September 26, 2014 – Leinster 37 Cardiff Blues 23, the RDS
Saturday, January 10, 2015 – Cardiff Blues 13 Leinster 22, BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park
Saturday, September 12, 2015 – Leinster 23 Cardiff Blues 15, the RDS
Saturday, February 20, 2016 – Cardiff Blues 13 Leinster 14, BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park
MATCH FACTS:
– Cardiff Blues’ perfect start to the new season continued with their 23-21 victory in Parma last Saturday: their best start since the region was formed in 2003
– The Blues reside in second place in the GUINNESS PRO12 table, their highest position, discounting opening rounds, in any season since 2010/11
– Leinster’s only reversal in the first four rounds of the PRO12 was 33-25 in Glasgow in round 2
– The Leinstermen have lost just one of their last six encounters with Welsh regions: 23-13 in Newport on January 29
– Leinster’s only defeat in their last 19 fixtures with Cardiff in all competitions since 2007 was 11-3 at Cardiff City Stadium in February 2011
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