Leinster will take on
Ulster today to try and regain their place at the top of the Rabo Direct pro
12.
It’s a fragile place at
the top of the table, a win for Glasgow last night against Munster put them in
the top spot, but a bonus point win for either of the Irish sides in Dublin
today would send them downwards.
Ulster had a convincing
win against Leinster earlier in the season, but today it will be a very
different side that welcomes them. The return of Rob Kearney, Brian O’Driscoll
and Fergus McFadden just after Christmas puts the Belfastians in an awkward
position.
A bad run of form as
brought Ulster from a confortable 14-point lead at the top of the competition,
to 3rd place.
Mark Anscombe has made
six changes to the side that lost to Edinburgh last week.
Ireland Internationals
Rory Best and Craig Gilroy return after the 6 nations, while Chris Henry and
Ruan Peinaar are back after suffering injuries.
As John Afoa is in New
Zealand for the birth of his third child, Ricky Lutton will start at tight-head
prop.
Cian Healy is one of the
7 internationals to return to Leinsters’ line up. Richardt Strauss will start
after recovering from injury, and will be accompanied in the front row by Mike
Ross.
Leinster have won their
last 7 games since they lost to Ulster in December and are now the best team in
the competition.
"It's always special for us playing at the
RDS. This is a chance for us to make up for the mistakes we made in the game in
Ravenhill too,” said Leinster captain Devin Toner
The Dubliners
outstanding record so far in 2013, Ulster will have a huge game on their hands,
but nothing is being taken for granted.
"They will want to wrestle back top spot.
It's up to us to stop them.” Leinster have the only 100% home record in the
tournament and will want to hold on to it.
Kick off at the RDS is
at 6:15pm on BBC NI and RTE.
| Leinster | Ulster | ||
| Rob Kearney | 15 | Jared Payne | |
| Dave Kearney | 14 | Andrew Trimble | |
| Brendan Macken | 13 | Darren Cave | |
| Gordan D'arcy | 12 | Stuart Olding | |
| Isa Nacewa | 11 | Craig Gilroy | |
| Ian Madigan | 10 | Paddy Jackson | |
| Isaac Boss | 9 | Ruan Pienaar | |
| Cian Healy | 1 | Tom Court | |
| Richardt Strauss | 2 | Rory Best | |
| Mike Ross | 3 | Ricky Lutton | |
| Devin Toner | 4 | Johann Muller | |
| Quin Roux | 5 | Dan Touy | |
| Kevin McLaughlin | 6 | Robbie Diack | |
| Shane Jennings | 7 | Chris Henry | |
| Jamie Heaslip | 8 | Nick Williams | |
| Sean Cronin | 16 | Rob Herring | |
| Jack McGrath | 17 | Callum Black | |
| Jamie Hagan | 18 | Kyle McCall | |
| Leo Cullen | 19 | Lewis Stevenson | |
| Rhys Ruddock | 20 | Iain Henderson | |
| John Cooney | 21 | Roger Wilson | |
| Andrew Goodman | 22 | Paul Marshall | |
| Andrew Conway | 23 | Peter Nelson |
