Rugby:Any lingering concerns over Brian O'Driscoll's availability for the Heineken Cup semi-finals were allayed this afternoon when the Ireland captain was named in the Leinster starting line-up to face Connacht on Wednesday night.
O’Driscoll has not played since aggravating a knee injury against Clermont Auvergne 10 days ago but, while the likes of Jonathan Sexton, Rob Kearney and Shane Horgan remain conspicuous by their absence, the centre will start at the Sportsground.
With a backlog of Magners League fixtures to get through, Michael Cheika took the unusual step of also naming his side for Friday night’s match with the Glasgow Warriors.
The Leinster coach has made no secret of his intention to rotate his squad as the season enters a critical phase and the starting XV for the match in Firhill is largely experimental.
Eoin O’Malley, who will take the midfield place alongside O’Driscoll in Galway, and number eight Stephen Keogh are the only players to be retained as Cheika opts to give youth its head in Glasgow.
“We made it very clear to each player that over these two games (Connacht and Glasgow) each player in the squad will have an opportunity to wear the blue shirt and they will all relish the opportunity, I’m sure,” Cheika said today.
“We’re in a position to welcome back some players into the panel for Wednesday, give others a rest and bench a few others, so that will hopefully ensure an injection of freshness as we approach the business end of the season. With the injured players, we will have to wait and see.”
Leinster(v Connacht): Girvan Dempsey; Andrew Conway, Brian O'Driscoll, Eoin O'Malley, Isa Nacewa; Shaun Berne, Eoin Reddan; Stan Wright, Richardt Strauss, CJ van der Linde; Nathan Hines, Malcolm O'Kelly; Kevin McLaughlin, Shane Jennings (capt), Stephen Keogh. Replacements:John Fogarty, Cian Healy, Leo Cullen, Jamie Heaslip, Paul O'Donohoe, Ian Madigan, Simon Keogh
Leinster(v Glasgow Warriors): Ian Madigan; Simon Keogh, Eoin O'Malley, Fergus McFadden, Michael Keating; Paul O'Donohoe, Chris Keane; Ronan McCormack, Bernard Jackman (capt), Mike Ross; Trevor Hogan, Ciaran Ruddock; Rhys Ruddock, Paul Ryan, Stephen Keogh. Replacements:Jason Harris-Wright, Jack McGrath, Mark Flanagan, Dominic Ryan, David Moore, Kyle Tonetti / Brendan Macken, Andrew Conway