The Sky Sports cameras will be at Rodney Parade as Leo Cullen pits his coaching wits against former team-mate Bernard Jackman. The latter’s Dragons side contains Zane Kirchner who recently departed the Leinster set-up.
GUINNESS PRO14: Saturday, September 2
DRAGONS v LEINSTER, Rodney Parade, 3.15pm (live S4C/Sky Sports Action)
Team News: In selecting his team for Saturday’s GUINNESS PRO14 opener against the Dragons in Newport, head coach Leo Cullen has used the opportunity to hand a Leinster debut to two players at different ends of the age and experience spectrum.
33-year-old Australian international Scott Fardy will start in the second row for his provincial debut, while former St. Andrew’s College student Jordan Larmour (20) (pictured below) wins his first cap on the left wing.
There is also the potential for a third Leinster debut in the form of lock James Ryan who is named among the replacements. Ryan made his Test debut for Ireland on the recent summer tour to the USA and Japan.
In other team news, Rob Kearney makes a very welcome return at full-back nearly eight months on from last competitive outing in blue against Castres Olympique in the Champions Cup.
Adam Byrne, who scored ten tries in all competitions last season, starts on the right wing with Larmour on the left. Isa Nacewa will captain the side from the centre with newly-capped Ireland international Rory O’Loughlin alongside him. Half-backs Jamison Gibson-Park and Ross Byrne pick up where they left off at Donnybrook last week.
Up front, Cian Healy makes his first appearance of the 2017/18 campaign having not featured in any of the pre-season matches. Beside him, Sean Cronin is back at hooker after hamstring and neck injuries hampered the second half of last season, with tighthead prop Michael Bent completing the front row.
Devin Toner is set for his 199th appearance for Leinster in the second row. The Meath man is joined by the 39 times-capped Australian Fardy. Joining Dan Leavy and Josh van der Flier in the back row is Max Deegan who dons the number 8 jersey for his first senior start for Leinster and his fourth cap overall.
Meanwhile, former Wales international Gavin Henson will make his first Dragons appearance as the region entertain Leinster. Fellow summer signing Zane Kirchner will also make his competitive debut for the Dragons having played in their pre-season matches.
Saturday’s match will mark the beginning of a new era for the Dragons as they make their mark at Rodney Parade on a new pitch, under a new head coach in former Connacht, Leinster and Ireland hooker Bernard Jackman.
Former Leinster player Zane Kirchner will start at full-back and is joined in the back-three by the talented Ashton Hewitt and Wales international Hallam Amos. The centre partnership sees youngsters Tyler Morgan and Jack Dixon given the nod, while experienced out-half Henson makes his first appearance in front of a home crowd in Newport, pairing up with Charlie Davies at half-back.
The front row sees Brok Harris and Leon Brown pack down next to Elliot Dee, while the region’s newly-appointed aptain Cory Hill returns in the second row alongside Matthew Screech. James Thomas and Wales Sevens star James Benjamin fill the flanker berths with number 8 Harrison Keddie completing the back row. There are two debutants on the bench – Max Williams and Jared Rosser.
DRAGONS: Zane Kirchner; Ashton Hewitt, Tyler Morgan, Jack Dixon, Hallam Amos; Gavin Henson, Charlie Davies; Brok Harris, Elliot Dee, Leon Brown, Matthew Screech, Cory Hill (capt), James Thomas, James Benjamin, Harri Keddie.
Replacements: Rhys Buckley, Luke Garrett, Lloyd Fairbrother, Rynard Landman, Max Williams, Tavis Knoyle, Angus O’Brien, Jared Rosser.
LEINSTER: Rob Kearney; Adam Byrne, Rory O’Loughlin, Isa Nacewa (capt), Jordan Larmour; Ross Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Cian Healy, Sean Cronin, Michael Bent, Devin Toner, Scott Fardy, Dan Leavy, Josh van der Flier, Max Deegan.
Replacements: James Tracy, Ed Byrne, Andrew Porter, James Ryan, Jack Conan, Nick McCarthy, Cathal Marsh, Barry Daly.
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant Referees: Lloyd Linton (Scotland), Stuart Kibble (Wales)
Television Match Official: Neil Paterson (Scotland)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): Dragons to win: 3/1; Draw: 22/1; Leinster to win: 2/7
Pre-Match Quotes: Leo Cullen (Leinster) – “It’s always a bit tricky for us at the start of the year because there’s a good chunk of our squad who haven’t played a pre-season game or played a game. So that’s always a bit of a concern for Leinster. Guys are on tour and they come back a bit little bit later. We’re very conscious of that.
“If you look back through the record books, Leinster are traditionally slow starters and slow out of the blocks. The Dragons, in comparison, have pretty much all of their squad together and they’ve played games. You can look at their scores and say, ‘oh, they’ve lost their pre-season games’, but they’ve played games whereas some of our guys won’t have played games.
“That’s always a difficult challenge for us here. There were a lot of good things from the pre-season but it doesn’t actually matter when you look back later in the season. There are no points up for grabs.
“It was good that we used 15 Academy players during the course of the three games (against Perpignan, Gloucester and Bath). I think that’s great for the development of them and the long-term future of the province. It’s fantastic but I would still very much be on guard because some guys are obviously under-cooked because they haven’t played yet.”
Bernard Jackman (Dragons) – “The players need the support and I promise you, they are giving it everything they have. All fans can ask for is an honest team who are working hard to get better so I’d like to hope we’d have a big crowd.
“Leinster will be bringing a decent team and it will be a challenge, but we need Rodney Parade to be a fortress. I don’t care who comes to Rodney Parade, we need to make sure it’s absolutely horrible for them in terms of the intensity we play at and hopefully with a massive crowd that gets behind the team.
“Something I’ve been surprised by is how quiet we are as a team. That’s often the case in teams with a losing record, people tend to shy away from speaking up and dominating and bossing others.
“The reality is that that’s how most performing teams work, there are lieutenants and soldiers. It needs to be clear on the field who is what, and you need your lieutenants and commanders to get your soldiers in the right position.”
Top Scorers – 2016/17 GUINNESS PRO12: Dragons – Points: Angus O’Brien 131; Tries: Pat Howard 5; Leinster – Points: Isa Nacewa 90; Tries: Joey Carbery, Rory O’Loughlin 8 each
RECENT LEAGUE MEETINGS:
Sunday, February 15, 2015 – Leinster 14 Dragons 16, the RDS
Sunday, April 12, 2015 – Dragons 25 Leinster 22, Rodney Parade
Saturday, October 3, 2015 – Leinster 37 Dragons 13, the RDS
Friday, January 29, 2016 – Dragons 23 Leinster 13, Rodney Parade
Saturday, December 3, 2016 – Leinster 28 Dragons 15, the RDS
Friday, February 24, 2017 – Dragons 22 Leinster 54, Rodney Parade
MATCH FACTS:
– Bernard Jackman coaches in his first GUINNESS PRO14 match having played exactly 100 Championship game for Connacht and Leinster between 2003 and 2010
– The Welshmen have not been victorious in the Championship since beating Benetton Rugby last January
– The Dragons have not won on the opening weekend since they beat Ulster at Rodney Parade in 2013
– The Dragons won only one game against an Irish province last season: at home to Connacht in round 8
– Leinster finished off the 2016/17 GUINNESS PRO12 campaign with a defeat at Ulster in round 22 and a loss to eventual champions, the Scarlets, at the RDS in the semi-finals
– The Leinstermen have won on four of their last five visits to Wales, only succumbing to the Scarlets at Parc y Scarlets in November
– Leinster have only started a Championship campaign with a victory twice in the last nine years: in Llanelli in 2013 and at home to Benetton last year
– The last six meetings between the two sides have been evenly shared with three wins each, but Leinster did win at Rodney Parade in round 16 last season
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