Edinburgh v Leinster - RaboDirect Pro 12 match preview

Ben Atiga: The Edinburgh centre starts his first match since injuring his knee in October

Rob Kearney: Recovered from injury and named in Leinster's starting XV to face Edinburgh

Rob Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald and Brian O'Driscoll have all recovered from injury and have been named in Leinster's starting XV to face Edinburgh in their PRO12 clash on Friday at Murrayfield.

Making his 122nd appearance for the province is Kearney, named in a pacy-looking back three alongside Fitzgerald and Fionn Carr, with O'Driscoll linking up in midfield with Gordon D'Arcy.

Eoin Reddan, set to make his 75th Leinster appearance, partners Jonathan Sexton at half back.

Leo Cullen captains an all-Ireland qualified starting XV which includes the likes of Sean O'Brien, Cian Healy and Jamie Heaslip in the pack.

Meanwhile, for Edinburgh, it is the first opportunity for them to make amends for a tough end to 2012, which saw them suffer four consecutive losses in all competitions.

The one change to their back-line sees centre Ben Atiga start his first match since injuring his knee in October, partnering Matt Scott in midfield.

Also included is Willem Nel, who has recovered from the hamstring strain that ruled him out of last weekend's loss to Glasgow Warriors, and is preferred to Geoff Cross at tight-head prop.

Stuart McInally will return to the fold on the blind-side flank with David Denton starting at number 8, the position at which he has earned all nine of his Scotland caps to date.

Edinburgh: 15 Greig Tonks, 14 Dougie Fife, 13 Matt Scott, 12 Ben Atiga, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Piers Francis, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 David Denton, 7 Dimitri Basilaia, 6 Stuart McInally, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Andy Titterrell, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Steven Lawrie, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Perry Parker, 20 Netani Talei, 21 Richie Rees, 22 James King, 23 Sep Visser.

Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Fionn Carr, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan,8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Leo Cullen (c) 3 Mike Ross, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Aaron Dundon, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Tom Denton, 20 Shane Jennings, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Andrew Conway.

What they said...

Edinburgh head coach Michael Bradley

"The competitiveness of the RaboDirect PRO12 is exceptional, and there are few tougher challenges than hosting the current European champions.

"However, while we have a lot of respect of Leinster, we don't fear them and we are fully focused on kick-starting the New Year at home after a tough December.

"We ran them close in Dublin earlier in the season and are looking forward to having another crack at them at home tomorrow night at Murrayfield."

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