Leinster stars return to face Scarlets

If Wayne Pivac’s quotes earlier this week are anything to go by, he might be a little surprised by the Leinster team that runs out in Parc y Scarlets tonight.

Leinster stars return to face Scarlets

By Ciarán Ó Raghallaigh

If Wayne Pivac’s quotes earlier this week are anything to go by, he might be a little surprised by the Leinster team that runs out in Parc y Scarlets tonight.

“It’s going to be an interesting encounter and a tough game, no matter what team they bring,” Pivac said, tapping into the usual remark that comes in an early season PRO14 game against Leinster.

There were some grumblings after Leinster’s ‘B team’ beat Cardiff in the opening round, with some smarter Welsh rugby fans arguing that if the Irish province are good enough to win without their big names, then they should be allowed to do so.

But going to Parc y Scarlets, home of the 2017 champions — and a ground Leinster have not won at since 2013, is a different proposition.

Hence Leo Cullen’s decision to pack some heavyweight luggage for this particular trip to Wales.

Lions Robbie Henshaw, Cian Healy, and Tadhg Furlong return, while Jordan Larmour, James Lowe, Seán Cronin, Devin Toner, and Jack Conan make their first appearances of the season.

Henshaw and Rory O’Loughlin start in midfield, with new signing Joe Tomane dropping to the bench after a mixed display in the narrow victory over Cardiff.

Lowe starts on the wing, hoping to add to the three tries he’s scored against Scarlets last season, while Joe Tomane drops to the bench after a mixed performance against Cardiff in the opening round.

Victory would mark Leinster’s third win in a row over the Welsh region, who must now be getting tired of those blue shirts.

Of the players starting tonight, Lowe, Conan, Larmour, Cronin, and Toner all scored tries in the Grand Final victory in Aviva Stadium last May.

“Against Leinster physicality is required across the board,” Pivac said. “We saw that from last season there was a gap between ourselves and Leinster, in terms of the physical stakes, the boys understand that and we’ve been working hard on that.

“It’s a game we’ve looked forward to, because they are the benchmark, both in this competition and in Europe. They wiped us off the park in Dublin the first time, we played better the second time but they were still deserved winners.”

Scarlets lost out narrowly to Ulster last weekend, losing two out-halves in the one match to add to their existing injury worries. But they’ve been strengthened by the availability of some big names today.

International stars Leigh Halfpenny, Johnny McNicholl, Hadleigh Parkes, Samson Lee, and Jake Ball will start, with Dan Jones named at No 10.

Captain Ken Owens starts at hooker, marshalling a strong pack, and Fergus McFadden knows Leinster will need to show an improvement in their defence if they are to get a result.

“Going over and getting five points in Cardiff, if we’d been told that before the game, we would have taken it, but conceding 32 points for us is not good enough, because we pride ourselves on our defence,” McFadden said.

“That’s one of the pillars to our game. So that was disappointing, and there was some tough viewing for us on that front.

“We came back into it and worked hard and showed good ‘dog’ to get back and win it, but really you could say that Cardiff were potentially a bit robbed as well. For a lot of the game they were dominant. So we’ll need to be a lot better.

“The Scarlets, at home, after losing against Ulster, their backs will be against the wall, so it’s not going to be any easier from a defensive perspective.

“We’re going to have to be an awful lot better.”

SCARLETS: L Halfpenny; J McNicholl, K Fonotia, H Parkes, T Prydie; D Jones, G Davies, R Evans, K Owens (c), S Lee, J Ball, S Cummins, B Thomson, J Davies, J Macleod.

Replacements: R Elias, P Price, W Kruger, L Rawlins, E Kennedy, S Hidalgo-Clyne, P Asquith, I Nicholas.

LEINSTER: J Larmour; F McFadden, R O’Loughlin, R Henshaw, J Lowe; R Byrne, J Gibson-Park; C Healy, S Cronin, T Furlong, D Toner, I Nagle, J Murphy, R Ruddock (c), J Conan.

Replacements: J Tracy, P Dooley, A Porter, M Kearney, M Deegan, L McGrath, N Reid, J Tomane.

Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)

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