RUGBY/Celtic League News: Leinster squad v OspreysGordon D'Arcy has been surprisingly named in an extended Leinster squad for this week's Magners Celtic League match against the Ospreys at Liberty Stadium. Although D'Arcy's fitness is being monitored, he has been included, while Girvan Dempsey has not.
Both players left the field injured in Leinster's European Cup match against Toulouse last Sunday night in France.
At this stage it is unclear as to the exact length of time the Ireland fullback, Dempsey, will be out of action. An update will be made on his availability over the coming days.
As expected Leinster will be without their number one scrumhalf, Chris Whittaker, for at least two months following an examination yesterday.
The Australian fractured his leg in Toulouse.
Speaking ahead of Friday night's clash in Swansea. Leinster coach Michael Cheika said that the team is determined to get back to winning ways after Sunday night's defeat.
"It would have been our intention to freshen things up this week with the five-day turnaround to another big challenge against the Ospreys on the Friday night," said Cheika.
"The Ospreys are a very strong side and the last two matches that we have had over there have been tight affairs.
"In year one we lost in the last minute and then in year two, the game went down to the last few minutes. Though we lost on both occasions, there were two points in it so I'm expecting another competitive game on Friday."
Leinster will be concerned about the amount of mistakes they made on Sunday, which gifted the opposition with scores and in the absence of Whittaker, the inexperienced Cillian Willis may again be asked to come into the fray at scrumhalf.
Willis is really just finding his footing after injury last season confined him to the sidelines.
"Sunday night was disappointing and in an away game environment, you can't afford to make mistakes," added Cheika.
"We have to keep our composure a bit more and to play a bit smarter, especially as we are coming up against a very intelligent team."
The coach has pointed to the fact that Ospreys are particularly strong in the half-back and backrow areas and, interestingly, has included Ireland Under-20 Grand Slam winning scrumhalf Paul O'Donohoe in the extended squad.
O'Donohoe is joined by fellow Grand Slam winner and Belvedere College schoolmate Cian Healy. "The Ospreys have a brilliant squad. They have great depth and even though they are likely to be without some of their Welsh internationals for this game, they have great experience in the likes of Marty Holah, Justin Marshall and Filo Tiatia," said Cheika.
"The seven, eight, nine and 10 axis is very strong and with the likes of Nikki Walker out wide and Ian Gough, they have experience throughout the squad.
"At this stage it's difficult to say for definite who will or will not be available. We know that Chris (Whitaker) is out injured for a few weeks. It's not like we're in a losing streak.
"Our last two performances in the Magners League before the win against Leicester had been good, away to Ulster and then at home to Connacht. We're in third place in the league and we want to be as competitive as we possibly can be".
Munster came through their match against Clermont Auvergne relatively unscathed. Although David Wallace again went over on his famous ankle and John Hayes had trouble with the neck he injured in the last match, the frontline players are expected to be available when they team is selected today.
(At the Liberty Stadium on Friday. KO: 7.10pm)
FORWARDS:Cian Healy, Ollie le Roux, Brian Blaney, Bernard Jackman, Juan Gomez, Stan Wright, Leo Cullen, Cameron Jowitt, Malcolm O'Kelly, Devin Toner, Keith Gleeson, Shane Jennings, Kevin McLaughlin.
BACKS:Chris Keane, Paul O'Donohoe, Cillian Willis, Felipe Contepomi, Jonathan Sexton, Christian Warner, Rob Kearney, Michael Berne, Gordon D'Arcy, Brian O'Driscoll, Gary Brown, Shane Horgan, Luke Fitzgerald.
Referee: Andy Macpherson (SRU)
Sub Referee: Tim Hayes (WRU)
Touch Judge: Matthew Alpin (WRU)
TMO: Tony Rowlands (WRU)
How They Stand
P W D L F A BP Pts
Cardiff 6 5 0 1 157 107 3 23
Llanelli 6 4 0 2 171 107 4 20
Leinster 6 3 1 2 138 125 2 16
Munster 6 3 1 2 102 94 1 15
Glasgow 6 3 1 2 112 118 0 14
Ospreys 6 2 1 3 106 87 3 13
Dragons 6 3 0 3 116 135 0 12
Edinburgh 6 1 2 3 88 98 2 10
Connacht 6 1 1 4 87 130 1 7
Ulster 6 1 1 4 68 144 0 6
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/f6af4aa9-3e11-4b2d-ad9f-be0f224302ab.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)