Leinster v Edinburgh team news: CJ van der Linde will join his Leinster captain Leo Cullen in the stands for Leinster's final Heineken Cup group match this Sunday. Both were injured against Wasps last weekend and will sit out the pivotal meeting with Edinburgh.
Van der Linde lasted barely 20 minutes at Twickenham, limping off with a recurrence of the foot problem that had threatened his involvement in London while Cullen suffered a new shoulder injury.
And with Malcolm O’Kelly’s availability for the RDS in some doubt pending tomorrow’s disciplinary hearing, coach Michael Cheika has plenty of cause for concern. Leinster can guarantee a place quarter-final berth with a bonus point win over the Scottish club but Edinburgh have proved particularly obdurate opponents in recent seasons.
The good news for Cheika at this stage is that Stan Wright’s neck injury appears to be on the mend and he should be fit to join Bernard Jackman and Cian Healy in the frontrow. Should O’Kelly be hit with a ban, Devin Toner and Trevor Hogan are likely to make up the secondrow partnership.
“Obviously losing two of your starting tight five is not ideal,” admitted Cheika. “But, in saying that, a player like Devin Toner who wasn’t in the squad last week was quite unlucky to miss out will get an opportunity to come back in. We’re still very hopeful about Malcolm’s situation so we’re hoping that we won’t be deprived of him after tomorrow.
“Stan will be fine,” he added. “He hasn’t trained much this week and that’s not ideal, but we’re hoping to get him out on the paddock by Friday and he’ll get a run out then.”
Whether Cheika persists with Isa Nacewa at outhalf remains to be seen although after a largely ineffectual display at Twickenham there is a case to be made for moving Felipe Contepomi back into the playmaker role.
Of the need to secure a bonus point to be sure of a last eight place, Cheika insisted that his side would not be getting ahead of themselves.
“The first thing we did at the start of the week was we discussed the situation and we need to win the game, pure and simple. If you think about bonus points, that’s the ultimate disrespect to the opposition,” said the Australian.
“The first thing we need to do is go out there and play really well. Make it a horrible day for them. It’s about us feeling it with our crowd behind us, hopefully in front of a full house, because they will be looking to impress ahead of the Six Nations. We’ll try to win the game and go from there.”
Leinster squad
Forward: Cian Healy, Ollie le Roux, John Fogarty, Bernard Jackman, Stan Wright, Trevor Hogan, Devin Toner, Cameron Jowitt, Malcolm O'Kelly, Rocky Elsom, Stephen Keogh, Shane Jennings, Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip
Backs: Chris Keane, Chris Whitaker, Isa Nacewa, Jonathan Sexton, Luke Fitzgerald, Simon Keogh, Felipe Contepomi, Gordon D'Arcy, Brian O'Driscoll, Shane Horgan, Girvan Dempsey, Rob Kearney
