Leinster v Ulster: Teams
Leinster have been boosted by the return of Gordon D'Arcy as they prepare to take on Ulster at the RDS on Saturday.
Last Updated: 27/03/09 2:01pm
Leinster have been boosted by the return of Gordon D'Arcy as they prepare to take on Ulster at the RDS on Saturday.
D'Arcy starts at centre and will partner Fergus McFadden for the inter-provincial derby in a backline which includes Shane Horgan, Girvan Dempsey and the returning Chris Whitaker, who starts at scrum-half.
In the pack, Leo Cullen returns from injury and partners Malcolm O'Kelly in the second row. The replacements bench will be confirmed closer to kick off.
Meanwhile, Ulster head coach Matt Williams has made two changes to his starting XV from the team that defeated Glasgow Warriors three weeks ago.
Paddy Wallace takes-up his place in the starting line-up, while Ian Whitten moves to the replacements bench. Tom Court returns from Irish duty to the number one shirt in place of Justin Fitzpatrick.
Best captain
Rory Best will again captain the Ulster side, while Stephen Ferris sits the game out with a hand injury, sustained in the Six Nations.
Sunday's game sees the return of powerful South African Robbie Diack to the team, after missing Ulster's last four games through injury. Although making his start on the bench, Diack will be a welcome return to the team. Chris Henry will be Ulster's starting number eight.
Prop Bryan Young and winger Timoci Nagusa have been named on the replacements bench.
"I think it's going to be a hard sell, Leinster haven't had a home game for a long time, just after the grand slam a lot of people want to see some rugby," said boss Williams.
"It will be a great day, it's a day you want to play and a day you want to coach. There will be no shortage of passion or excitement.
Everyone back
"Just to get everyone back has been a great week for us, we want to go down and play for each other and play for the jersey, as will Leinster and when you get two teams that are passionate for it, you'll get a great game.
"I have asked the guys to make sure they turn up this week, if you don't turn up against a side like Leinster they'll kill you.
"They play beautiful rugby and are very structured, they have a lot of systems they use and they are a very complex team which means they are hard to predict, and if a team is hard to predict it's hard to defend.
"We're a side that is going forward and they don't necessarily like playing us, so we have to turn up and make it awkward for them.
"I've only played Leinster once since being here and I was very unhappy with the way we turned up that day, we weren't as passionate and committed as we should have been."
Leinster: 15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Fergus McFadden, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Isa Nacewa, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 9 Chris Whitaker, 8 Rocky Elsom, 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Cameron Jowitt, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 4 Leo Cullen (capt), 3 Stan Wright, 2 Bernard Jackman, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements (from): John Fogarty, CJ van der Linde, Ronan McCormack, Trevor Hogan, Devin Toner, Sean O'Brien, Paul O'Donohoe, Jonathan Sexton, Simon Keogh.
Ulster: 15 Clinton Schifcofske, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Isaac Boss, 1 Tom Court. 2 Rory Best (capt), 3 BJ Botha, 4 Ed O'Donoghue, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 6 Matt McCullough, 7 David Pollock, 8 Chris Henry,
Replacements: 16 Nigel Brady, 17 Bryan Young, 18 Carlo Del Fava, 19 Robbie Diack, 20 Cillian Willis, 21 Ian Whitten, 22 Timoci Nagusa.