Wales call up for Morgan, Webster predicts

Posted on Oct 15, 2010 in Rugby News

Swansea coach Richard Webster has predicted that young fly-half Matthew Morgan will be called up by Wales before too long.

Morgan, the Principality Welsh Premiership Player of the Month for September, is set to spearhead the All Whites’ onslaught on the British & Irish Cup, which kicks off this weekend with five of the six participating Welsh clubs in action.

The teenage prospect scored 23 points, including two tries, as Swansea cruised to a bonus point 48-21 victory over Bedwas at St Helen’s in their last league outing before the visit of Ulster Ravens.

Morgan, 19, was at the heart of a seven tries to two win as the All Whites continued their unbeaten start to the season.

And former Wales international flanker Webster was left purring by his performance.

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Sexton makes first start of the season for Leinster

Posted on Oct 8, 2010 in Rugby News

The Leinster team to face Racing-Métro 92 in Saturday’s Pool 2 Heineken Cup opener in the RDS (KO: 1.30pm) has been named.

Jonathan Sexton makes his first start of the season and will partner Eoin Reddan at half-back for the visit of Top 14 table-toppers. Gordon D’Arcy partners Brian O’Driscoll in a backline which includes six Ireland internationals as well as Isa Nacewa, who starts on the right wing.

Shane Jennings forms an all-Ireland back-row partnership with Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip, with Devin Toner continuing his second row partnership with Nathan Hines.

Tickets sales are approaching the 17,000 mark for Saturday’s match and tickets are still on sale from www.leinsterrugby.ie, Spar (Donnybrook) and the Leinster Rugby Store (Donnybrook). Tickets will also be on sale at the gate on the day from the Ticketmaster box offices (located on Anglesea Road and Simmonscourt Road) from 9am.

LEINSTER:

15: Rob Kearney
14: Isa Nacewa
13: Brian O’Driscoll
12: Gordon D’Arcy
11: Luke Fitzgerald
10: Jonathan Sexton
9: Eoin Reddan

1: Heinke van der Merwe
2: Richardt Strauss
3: Mike Ross
4: Nathan Hines
5: Devin Toner
6: Sean O’Brien
7: Shane Jennings
8: Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Jason Harris-Wright
17: Cian Healy
18: Simon Shawe
19: Mariano Galarza
20: Dominic Ryan
21: Isaac Boss
22: Fergus McFadden
23: Shane Horgan

REFEREE: David Pearson (RFU), ASSISTANT REFEREES: Rob Debney, Stuart Terheege (both RFU), 4^th OFFICIAL: Peter Dennehy (IRFU), 5^th OFFICIAL: Ken Henley-Willis (Leinster Rugby Referees)

Joe Schmidt’s preview and Leinster team to face Edinburgh

Posted on Sep 23, 2010 in Rugby News

The Leinster team to face Edinburgh in Friday night’s Magners League clash at Murrayfield (KO: 7.05pm, LIVE RTE 2) has been named.

Rob Kearney will make his 100^th Leinster appearance on Friday and the Cooley man will become the 17^th Leinster player to reach the landmark feat. Kearney is named in a backline which features seven Ireland internationals including Brian O’Driscoll and Jonathan Sexton, who makes his first appearance this season.

In the pack, skipper Shane Jennings forms a back-row partnership with Dominic Ryan and Stephen Keogh who starts at number eight, while second-row Devin Toner also makes his seasonal debut.

Isaac Boss, Jamie Heaslip and Cian Healy are all named amongst the replacements.

LEINSTER:

15: Rob Kearney
14: Shane Horgan
13: Brian O’Driscoll
12: Gordon D’Arcy
11: Luke Fitzgerald
10: Jonathan Sexton
9: Eoin Reddan
1: Heinke van der Merwe
2: Richardt Strauss
3: Mike Ross
4: Ed O’Donoghue
5: Devin Toner
6: Dominic Ryan
7: Shane Jennings CAPTAIN
8: Stephen Keogh

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Jason Harris-Wright
17: Cian Healy
18: Simon Shawe
19: Mariano Galarza
20: Jamie Heaslip
21: Isaac Boss
22: Isa Nacewa
23: Eoin O’Malley

REFEREE:Tim Hayes (WRU), ASSISTANT REFEREES: Iain Heard, Bob Nevans (both SRU), TMO: Ian Ramage (SRU)

Speaking ahead of Friday night’s Magners League clash in Edinburgh, Leinster Coach Joe Schmidt said:

On areas for improvement: “It will be a tough trip to Edinburgh because they haven’t had a win yet and they’ll be desperate to (do so). They’re a good side with quality right across the board.

“As was demonstrated last week against Treviso, all teams have their quality and if you’re not accurate enough on the night then all of the games will tend to be in the balance. We were disappointed that we didn’t create a great platform to play from, particularly in the conditions which were consistent rain throughout.

“Our defence was something else for us to improve on and we didn’t quite dominate them in the collisions.”

Early impressions of the Magners League: “I have been really impressed by the quality of all the teams in the Magners League so far. There’s no team that you can take for granted. Aironi, for example, have put up a really good fight so far and we know how strong Benetton Treviso are at home.

“It was great for Connacht to get their first away win in two and a half years (away to Glasgow) and they were very unlucky against the Scarlets the previous week. The Scarlets started with a loss away to Treviso on week one, but now they’re in third place, so we’d like to follow their lead having also lost to Treviso to hopefully push ourselves up the ladder as well.”

On Edinburgh: “They have a pretty tough pack and a solid set-piece. You have to have your discipline right because in Chris Paterson they have a very accurate kicker, kicking out of hand he’s very good as well. His counter-attack is also very strong.

“Tim Visser was named on the Magners League Dream Team last year and he has scored some very impressive tries – and I don’t think he’s finished yet either because he got a great one against Ulster last weekend beating four players down a five metre touchline.

“Across the board they’re pretty strong. Mike Blair obviously at 9 is a great director of play. He’s a very good defender and a very competent all-round player so he’s someone we’ve got to keep an eye on this week.”

On the short turnaround this week: “We put training back to Monday evening because of the late return from Italy and we wanted to give the boys a little bit more time to recover. It does affect your turnaround and your opportunity to recover so you really only get one good window to train, and that’s Wednesday for us.”

On Rob Kearney’s 100^th appearance: “I’m new to Leinster but to become the 17^th Leinster centurion at such a young age, when there’s so much more upside to come, is a great achievement. He’s a genuine athlete as well as a highly skilled player. Him being back on the field for us on Saturday night was a real positive and I think that he’ll get more and more comfortable and hopefully add more to our game.”

Leinster Squad Update and Cian Healy Preview

Posted on Sep 15, 2010 in Irish Rugby

The Leinster management are optimistic that the squad who featured in the 34-23 Magners League victory over the Cardiff Blues last weekend will be available for the trip to Benetton Treviso this weekend.

Shane Horgan (back), Shane Jennings (foot) and Jonathan Sexton (quad) are all expected to be available for the trip to Italy though a decision on their fitness will be made on Friday lunchtime. Fergus McFadden, a try-scorer against Cardiff, suffered a cut to his head during the game on Saturday but has recovered sufficiently.

In addition, those players who featured in the Leinster ‘A’ game on Sunday will also be in the selection mix.

Leinster Prop Cian Healy said:

“It was a little bit tough (against Cardiff). I was blowing hard even though I was on for 20 minutes and it was just good to be back playing and I’m looking forward to hopefully getting some more time maybe this week or next week.

“We’ve put in a good bit of work in the pack on our togetherness as an ‘8’. It worked out a bit better for us (last weekend) than it did in the previous games and we can see, looking forward, what we want it to be. Going to Italy will be a tough task but we’d be confident in ourselves and what we can do. Italian sides at home always pose a big threat, but it will be our own challenge as to how we approach the game.

“I just want to get back play for Leinster at this stage. It feels like an age since I last played and I just want to get back in a rhythm of week in, week out at the RDS hopefully.

“There has been a good focus on us (the pack) and we’ve tried to change a few things, such as our foot placement (at scrums) and stuff like that to work to our advantage. We’ve been doing a lot of one-on-one work with Greg Feek in the front row and the back-row have been working separately with each other, so it has been a case of players managing their own time and their own meetings and Jono (Gibbes), in fairness, has pushed that on us.

“He told us to get our act together and do our own work in the front row, the back row and the second rows will meet up separately, and that has been really working out for us.”

King returns for Scarlets – Michael Cheika Previews Leinster game

Posted on Feb 16, 2010 in Rugby News

The Leinster squad to face the Scarlets in Saturday’s Magners League clash at the RDS (KO: 6.30pm) has been named.

Leinster welcome back Kevin McLaughlin, Sean O’Brien, Eoin Reddan and Jonathan Sexton from Ireland duty for Leinster’s fourth fixture against the Scarlets this season.

With the likes of Girvan Dempsey, Shane Horgan and Shane Jennings in tow, supplemented by the likes of Shaun Berne, Isa Nacewa, Stan Wright and CJ van der Linde, Leinster can call on a panel of experienced and young talent.

Full-back Andrew Conway is named in the extended panel having impressed for the Ireland Under-20′s in recent weeks. Meanwhile, David Kearney, Eoin O’Malley and Eoin Sheriff are included in the panel after impressing in last weekend’s 22-10 British & Irish Cup victory over the Exeter Chiefs.

The team is expected to be announced on Friday lunchtime.

Over 13,000 tickets have now been sold for Saturday’s Magners League fixture

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