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Five bold possible debutants for the All Blacks in 2026
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Kelleher returns for Leinster as Glasgow welcome back 9 Scotland campers
By Kim Ekin
Injury-plagued British & Irish Lions tourist Ronan Kelleher play his first game for Leinster in two months as the Irish province welcome Glasgow to the RDS.
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Ireland prospect Harry Byrne – brother of Ross Byrne who starts at flyhalf – is also in line to make his first appearance of the season as the men in blue host Franco Smith Glasgow’s in the URC.
Academy products Rob Russell and Liam Turner return to the side after impressing against Chile, while All Blacks Charlie Ngatai will make his seventh appearance for Leinster in the centres.
In addition, a number of Ireland players that featured against Australia are also available for the Round 8 fixture against the Warriors. Joe McCarthy is named on the bench, as is Springboks second row Jason Jenkins who featured for SA ‘A’ recently.
McCarthy and Ross Moloney are the second row combination, with Rhys Ruddock skippering the side at six, with Scott Penny at openside and Max Deegan at No. 8.
They face a stern Test in a Glasgow Warriors side that features nine players who were involved in the Scotland camp for the recent Autumn Nations Series, including recent international debutants Murphy Walker and Jack Dempsey.
Jamie Bhatti and Ross Thompson return to the fold after being involved with Gregor Townsend’s outfit during the Autumn. They are named on the bench.
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“Tomorrow is an opportunity to measure ourselves against a strong Leinster side,” said Glasgow Warriorss head coach Franco Smith. “We were pleased with how we ended our last block of games with our win over Benetton and we plan to carry that momentum into this important block.
“Tomorrow is the start of the next part of our journey as we continue to build our squad and our performances.”
LEINSTER TEAM:
15. Jamie Osborne
14. Rob Russell
13. Liam Turner
12. Charlie Ngatai
11. Dave Kearney
10. Ross Byrne
9. Luke McGrath
1. Ed Byrne
2. Rónan Kelleher
3. Thomas Clarkson
4. Ross Molony
5. Joe McCarthy
6. Rhys Ruddock CAPTAIN
7. Scott Penny
8. Max Deegan
REPLACEMENTS:
16. John McKee
17. Michael Milne
18. Vakh Abdaladze
19. Jason Jenkins
20. Ryan Baird
21. Cormac Foley
22. Harry Byrne
23. Chris Cosgrave
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GLASGOW WARRIORS TEAM:
1. Oli Kebble
2. Fraser Brown
3. Murphy Walker
4. Sintu Manjezi
5. Alex Samuel
6. Gregor Brown
7. Sione Vailanu
8. Jack Dempsey
9. George Horne
10. Tom Jordan
11. Rufus McLean
12. Stafford McDowall
13. Kyle Steyn (C)
14. Sebastian Cancelliere
15. Josh McKay
REPLACEMENTS:
16. Johnny Matthews
17. Jamie Bhatti
18. Simon Berghan
19. JP du Preez
20. Lewis Bean
21. Euan Ferrie
22. Jamie Dobie
23. Ross Thompson
