Ronan Kelleher will become the 54th Leinster player to pull on a senior jersey this season when he makes his debut at hooker. The Lansdowne clubman only turned 21 last month and is in his second year in the Leinster Academy. He is the younger brother of Connacht back Cian Kelleher.
Beside Kelleher in the front row will be Ed Byrne and Andrew Porter, with the latter having lined out in last Saturday’s 40-24 bonus point triumph away to Zebre. Making his 80th Leinster appearance, Ross Molony captains the side from the second row alongside Clontarf’s Mick Kearney.
An unchanged back row sees Josh Murphy, Max Deegan, who touched down twice in Viadana, and Caelan Doris all retained, while Ross Byrne, who scored a try and kicked five conversions in the Zebre game, has Hugh O’Sullivan as his half-back partner. It is a tenth cap for the Meath-born scrum half who turns 21 on Sunday.
Noel Reid comes in at inside centre with Conor O’Brien switching to the outside berth, and Fergus McFadden makes a welcome return from a hamstring injury on the right wing. McFadden is back in blue for the first time since October’s derby win over Munster, linking up in the back-three with James Lowe and Barry Daly, who moves to full-back.
The selected bench includes Academy second row Jack Dunne who is poised to play his first game at the RDS. It comes just six days on from the 21-year-old’s debut for Leinster as a replacement in the final minutes of their round 15 clash with Zebre.
Tickets for the Leinster v Isuzu Southern Kings game are still on sale here from Ticketmaster.ie or from the ticket office in the RDS, which will be open from 6.15pm on match day.
Meanwhile, Ulrich Beyers will make his first start for the Kings when they take on the PRO14 title holders. The 28-year-old full-back replaces top scorer Masixole Banda as head coach Deon Davids takes the opportunity to rotate some of his matchday squad.
There is a first Kings start for experienced scrum half Sarel Pretorius as he swaps in for Stefan Ungerer, while hooker Michael Willemse takes the captaincy reins from benched lock John-Charles Astle. The latter’s place in the second row is filled by Stephan Greeff.
The five personnel changes from the 43-0 loss to Munster are completed by the selection of former Junior Springbok Alulutho Tshakweni at loosehead prop – with veteran Schalk Ferreira providing back-up on this occasion – and Henry ‘Bakkies’ Brown at blindside flanker.
LEINSTER: Barry Daly; Fergus McFadden, Conor O’Brien, Noel Reid, James Lowe; Ross Byrne, Hugh O’Sullivan; Ed Byrne, Ronan Kelleher, Andrew Porter, Ross Molony (capt), Mick Kearney, Josh Murphy, Max Deegan, Caelan Doris.
Replacements: James Tracy, Peter Dooley, Michael Bent, Jack Dunne, Scott Fardy, Paddy Patterson, Jimmy O’Brien, Rory O’Loughlin.
ISUZU SOUTHERN KINGS: Ulrich Beyers; Yaw Penxe, Meli Rokoua, Berton Klaasen, Bjorn Basson; Bader Pretorius, Sarel Pretorius; Alulutho Tshakweni, Michael Willemse (capt), De-Jay Terblanche, Stephan Greeff, Dries van Schalkwyk, Henry Brown, Martinus Burger, Ruaan Lerm.
Replacements: Alandre van Rooyen, Schalk Ferreira, Pieter Scholtz, John-Charles Astle, Andisa Ntsila, Stefan Ungerer, Tertius Kruger, Masixole Banda.
Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
Assistant Referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Ian Kenny (Scotland)
Television Match Official: Colin Stanley (Ireland)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): Leinster to win: 1/200; Draw: 100/1; Isuzu Southern Kings to win: 50/1
Pre-Match Quotes: Leo Cullen (Leinster) –
We’ve got some young guys coming into the squad so it’s a great opportunity for a number of them. Ronan is someone who went very well in the Celtic Cup campaign, and we were keen to get him a (senior) game at some stage along the way. Hooker is a very competitive position for us. With Sean Cronin away, James Tracy and Bryan Byrne have stepped in well.
“Ronan’s worked very hard on his game, he’s come through the system. The sorta player we’ve been aware of for a number of years. He’s had his fair share of injuries along the way as well. It’s a great test for him. He’s prepared well over the last couple of weeks – he’s been close on a few occasions and now he gets his chance.
“The Kings are a team that have so much threat and they’re improving all the time. Deon Davids is a very good coach. You’ve seen in some of their performances – and we saw it first-hand in November how dangerous they are, running the ball back from a restart, bust the line and only a pass doesn’t quite go to hand and they would’ve scored.
“The pace that they have, the threat that they have, very abrasive team, very aggressive around the ruck, so we need to make sure we’re very clear on some of the threats that they pose because we know that they’re a team that are improving all the time.”
Deon Davids (Isuzu Southern Kings) –
Our captain JC Astle and centre Tertius Kruger both struggled with a bout of flu this week and missed out on a few training sessions as a result. On medical advice, they were not considered for the starting line-up this week. We are fortunate to have Michael Willemse taking over the captaincy role – something that is not strange or new to him.
“It was always our plan to rotate Stephan de Wit and Brandon Brown on this tour. Stephan was solid in his performance last week, while Bakkies was very good before his injury. We are fortunate to have both of them as replacements for the suspended CJ Velleman.
“We are far from being happy with the amount of penalties and cards we conceded (against Munster), and we kept that in mind with our discussion around the 23 for this week. It was encouraging to see a good start against Munster, we were quite physical and created a lot of momentum, however we were also our own enemy by giving the momentum away at crucial times.”
Top Scorers – 2018/19 GUINNESS PRO14: Leinster – Points: Ross Byrne 68; Tries: Bryan Byrne, Sean Cronin, Jamison Gibson-Park, James Lowe, Conor O’Brien, Max Deegan 5 each; Isuzu Southern Kings – Points: Masixole Banda 96; Tries: Yaw Penxe 7
2018/19 TEAM FORM: Leinster – Played 15, Won 13, Lost 2, 63 Points; W 33-32 v Cardiff Blues (away), L 23-21 v Scarlets (away), W 52-10 v Dragons (home), W 31-7 v Edinburgh (home), W 20-3 v Connacht (away), W 30-22 v Munster (home), W 31-3 v Benetton Rugby (away), W 38-31 v Isuzu Southern Kings (away), W 52-7 v Ospreys (home), W 59-10 v Dragons (away), W 33-29 v Connacht (home), L 26-17 v Munster (away), W 40-7 v Ulster (home), W 22-17 v Scarlets (home), W 40-24 v Zebre (away); Isuzu Southern Kings – Played 15, Won 2, Lost 13, 19 Points; L 32-16 v Zebre (away), L 27-22 v Dragons (away), L 28-7 v Ulster (home), W 38-28 v Glasgow Warriors (home), L 54-14 v Scarlets (away), L 28-5 v Benetton Rugby (away), L 41-34 v Scarlets (home), L 38-31 v Leinster (home), L 31-14 v Connacht (home), L 22-19 v Benetton Rugby (home), L 38-0 v Edinburgh (away), L 24-17 v Toyota Cheetahs (home), W 25-21 v Edinburgh (home), L 40-36 v Toyota Cheetahs (away), L 43-0 v Munster (away)
RECENT LEAGUE MEETINGS:
Saturday, September 16, 2017 – Southern Kings 10 Leinster 31, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
Friday, February 23, 2018 – Leinster 64 Southern Kings 7, the RDS
Sunday, November 4, 2018 – Isuzu Southern Kings 31 Leinster 38, Madibaz Stadium
MATCH FACTS:
– Leinster have won their last five matches in all competitions, four of those with maximum points
– The Leinstermen’s only defeat in the GUINNESS PRO14 since round 2 was away at Munster on December 29
– Leinster have won their last eleven home games at all venues since Benetton Rugby beat them in the PRO14 at the RDS last April
– The Isuzu Southern Kings’ two victories this season have both been against Scottish opponents at Madibaz Stadium in Port Elizabeth
– The Kings are yet to record an away win since they joined the PRO14 at the start of last season and have lost on all four previous visits they have made to play an Irish province
– Leinster have met South African opponents on four occasions in the PRO14, winning all three they played against the Kings but losing to the Toyota Cheetahs in Bloemfontein in September 2017