Dragons beware - Leinster to unleash big guns

The Dragons may have picked up their first PRO14 win of the season against the Southern Kings on Saturday, but an away win this weekend always looked unlikely against European and PRO14 champions Leinster. That task now looks even bleaker for Bernard Jackman’s side with Johnny Sexton, Garry Ringrose, Rob Kearney, James Ryan and Josh van der Flier in contention to start.

It’s highly unlikely that all five Ireland internationals will feature against the Dragons, with another home game against Edinburgh and an away match at Connacht to come, before the eagerly anticipated interpro match against Munster at the Aviva Stadium on October 6th. Leinster will be keen to get some game-time into their Ireland players ahead of their Champions Cup opener against Wasps on October 12th.

There were questions in some quarters over the side that Leinster picked for their opening day win over the Cardiff Blues, with Leo Cullen’s side bringing in several front-line players for the match at the Scarlets including Jordan Larmour, James Lowe, Robbie Henshaw, Devin Toner, Cian Healy, Sean Cronin and Tadhg Furlong.

There wasn’t good news for Jack McGrath, the loosehead prop picked up a knee injury in training last week and is likely to miss the next three matches.

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