Cheika insists Leinster are a different side to one that lost last year

RUGBY/Celtic League news: It hasn't taken long for Michael Cheika to catch the LeinsterMunster bug. While he self-deprecatingly reminded all present yesterday that, under him, Leinster had lost two of last season's three meetings, he lorded the rivalry and everything that surrounds what he described as "a great fixture".

For him there are no negatives, and as with everyone else in either camp, the message ahead of the renewal of hostilities at Lansdowne Road in the Magners League is the same. Bring it on.

Fittingly, there will assuredly be a record-breaking crowd for a Celtic League game. "Any game where there's a big crowd always intensifies the atmosphere so it accentuates everything in the game and we're hoping that we'll have a big, big crowd there - as big as possible," said Cheika.

"Because that kind of intensity is what the guys come to play for and you want to make sure they get the maximum experience out of it."

Invariably, tomorrow's rematch is played to the backdrop of the last meeting; unquestionably the most important and most hyped of any all-Irish clash when Munster overcame Leinster in the penultimate stage of the European Cup by 30-6 at Lansdowne Road last April en route to fulfilling their Magnificent Obsession.

Lessons have been absorbed from that game, but time has also moved on. "We're a different team, moving forward, and I'd suggest they are too because they've got a different type of maturity that comes with being European champions, as they showed against Ulster and I'm sure they're going to bring that up to Dublin."

Cheika has recalled Rob Kearney (having overcome a hamstring strain) and Cameron Jowitt (recovered from the injuries which have delayed his start to the season) and, with Harry Vermass and Bernard Jackman nursing slight shoulder injuries, Brian Blaney has also been added to a 25-man squad.

In essence, Cheika has effectively suspended a difficult if inevitable decision regarding the composition of his star-studded backs, and with Gordon D'Arcy pushing hard for a starting place after his cameo in Galway last Friday, it would appear that Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald and Christian Warner are fighting for the last two places on the bench.

"It makes for some pretty tight going in that back division," Cheika conceded, "because there's some talent there. We've got to make sure we get the mix right as to how we decide to configure the centre combinations and the wing combinations. Rob just adds to that mix."

Competition in the back row has also hotted up with Jowitt's return to the Leinster A team last week. Cheika spoke of the height and the impact that Jowitt gives the team, which suggests he'll be pushing Niall Ronan for a place on the bench at any rate.

Maintaining that Leinster are more adaptable this season, Cheika conceded that they are trying to mix up their game more, "like the ability to play it a bit tight sometimes, the ability to assess and use the foot a bit more or the ability to attack, like we probably have our name for.

"That's definitely an area we need to keep growing, that's not something that's going to happen just within a couple of weeks because it's something that you need to grow in confidence with."

Yet, few teams are as daring or eschew the percentages as much as Leinster, and nor is this an exact science. "We're still very much a team that when it wants to go, they're going."

Cheika cited an example in Cardiff, when Contepomi moved ball from behind his own goal-line to ignite a 70-metre move. Had he kicked it, they might only have gained 30 metres. "So it's difficult to validate when the mix is right," Cheika admitted with an almost bemused smile.

Perhaps mindful of that European Cup semi-final more than any other game last year, Leinster are also trying to be "more physical, especially on the fringe of ruck and maul, in our counter-rucking and our defence, and I think we are doing that. There's a couple of players who have added a real sting to our defence."

Asked specifically who, he singled out the former Munster man Trevor Hogan, who has already doubled his try-tally from one, in 50-plus games for Munster, to two in three outings for Leinster.

"His front-on defence and the way he approaches a game is pretty hard, and I like his style. I think (Owen) Finegan has also given us some good tight hard hitting as well in close, and his experience helps us in that tight zone as well. I think that toughens us up a little."

The veracity of that statement will receive its toughest test yet tomorrow, while Cheika lauded another former Munster man Stephen Keogh. "There's two types of hitting, with the attack and with the defence, and Stephen has shown a real propensity for getting involved with the ball, and to hit and keep going. That's why we recruited those guys."

Meanwhile, Adam Byrnes, Des Dillon, Michael Beirne, Andy Dunne and Gary Brown have been named in the the Leinster A squad to face the New South Wales Waratahs at the launch of the new clubhouse in Coolmine RFC on Sunday (4pm).

Connacht have recalled Keith Matthews and Brett Sturgess for Conor McPhillips and Michael Diffly to their squad for Friday's match at home to Ulster - McPhillips having joined Conor O'Loughlin (shoulder), Ronan Loughney (knee), Joe Merrigan (foot), David McGowan (hamstring), Stephen Knoop (back) with the hamstring strain which forced his half-time withdrawal against Leinster.

LEINSTER (squad v Munster): Forwards: Reggie Corrigan, Bernard Jackman, Will Green, Harry Vermaas, Brian Blaney, Ronan McCormack, Malcolm O'Kelly, Trevor Hogan, Owen Finegan, Stephen Keogh, Keith Gleeson, Jamie Heaslip, Cameron Jowitt, Niall Ronan. Backs: Chris Whitaker, Guy Easterby, Christian Warner, Felipe Contepomi, Gordon D'Arcy, Brian O'Driscoll (captain), Shane Horgan, Denis Hickie, Luke Fitzgerald, Girvan Dempsey, Rob Kearney.

CONNACHT (squad v Ulster): Andrew Farley, Adrian Flavin, John Fogarty, David Gannon, Ray Hogan, Chris Keane, Matt Lacey, Keith Matthews, Mark McHugh, Matt Mostyn, John Muldoon, Ray Ofisa, Colm Rigney, Daniel Riordan, Ted Robinson, Brett Sturgess, Michael Swift, Tom Tierney, Paul Warwick, Brett Wilkinson, Gavin Williams, Darren Yapp.