1
What written judgement said about Alex Mann's role in gouging saga
3
{{item.n}}
Leinster forced into tough Lions call with South Africa trip looming
By Josh Raisey
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has named a 33-player squad that will take on Cardiff on Saturday in Dublin in their only pre-season match ahead of the United Rugby Championship season.
ADVERTISEMENT
Hooker John McKee will captain a side bereft of its British & Irish Lions, a whole 14 players come the end of the series in Australia.
Even without its Lions, Cullen is still able to select 2017 and 2021 tourist Robbie Henshaw, who will be part of the 18-player strong list of replacements at Cullen and Jacques Nienaber’s disposal at Tallaght Stadium.
Leinster have a tricky start to their URC defence, facing the Stormers in Cape Town in the competition’s curtain raiser, followed by a trip to Loftus Versfeld against the Bulls in the opening two rounds, before returning home to host the Sharks and bitter rivals Munster.
With the clash with Cardiff being the only pre-season match for Leinster, Cullen will have the tough decision as to whether he selects any of his Lions contingent for the trip to South Africa at the end of the month. If he does, his players will enter the match with no preparation.
With eight Leinster players featuring in the third and final Test against Australia in August, Cullen is likely to rest the players who had an extensive role in the series for the South Africa trip, though that could hamper their hopes of making a strong start to their title defence.
Leinster XV
15. Hugo McLaughlin
14. Jordan Larmour
13. Hugh Cooney
12. Charlie Tector
11. Andrew Osborne
10. Harry Byrne
9. Fintan Gunne
1. Paddy McCarthy
2. John McKee (c)
3. Andrew Sparrow
4. Brian Deeny
5. Diarmuid Mangan
6. Alex Soroka
7. Will Connors
8. James Culhane
ADVERTISEMENT
Replacements from:
Alex Usanov
Jerry Cahir
Stephen Smyth
Niall Smyth
Rabah Slimani
Billy Corrigan
Mahon Ronan
Conor O’Tighearnaigh
Liam Molony
Scott Penny
Cormac Foley
Caspar Gabriel
Ciarán Mangan
Ciarán Frawley
Robbie Henshaw
Joshua Kenny
Ruben Moloney
Henry McErlean
We've ranked the best women's rugby players in the world, from 50 - 1! View the Top 50 now