Match Preview: Leinster v Edinburgh Rugby

Edinburgh welcome back Scotland stars Duhan van der Merwe and Pierre Schoeman for their trip to the RDS as they look to make it three from three in the BKT URC.

Fellow World Cup squad member Luke Crosbie moves across to No 8 having put in no fewer than 23 tackles from the flank in the victory over the Emirates Lions last weekend, the most by any player in Round 2.

Coach Sean Everitt said: “We’re delighted to welcome back Pierre and Duhan. They are quality players with a lot of experience at the very top. They’ve trained really hard this week and are both excited to represent the club once again.

“Leinster are a quality side and a team we have a lot of respect for from 1 to 23, but we travel to Dublin with a lot of confidence after two hard-fought wins to start the season, and we can take a lot of positives from the resilience we’ve shown in closing out both victories.”

No player has beaten more defenders in the BKT URC  this season than Leinster wing Tommy O’Brien, with 10 opponents left clutching thin air, so Edinburgh will have to keep him on a tight rein.

Leinster v Edinburgh Rugby

RDS Arena, Dublin – KO 15.05 IRE & UK / 16.05 ITA / 17.05 SA

Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU, 17th league game)

AR 1:  Keane Davison (IRFU)  AR 2: Jonathan Erskine (IRFU)

TMO: Sean Brickell (WRU)

Live on: RTÉ, Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Leinster: Ciarán Frawley, Tommy O’Brien, Jamie Osborne, Charlie Ngatai, Jordan Larmour, Harry Byrne, Cormac Foley, Jack Boyle, Lee Barron, Michael Ala’alatoa, Ross Molony, Jason Jenkins, Max Deegan, Scott Penny (CAPT), James Culhane

Replacements:  Dylan Donnellan, Paddy McCarthy, Rory McGuire, Brian Deeny, Rhys Ruddock, Ben Murphy, Sam Prendergast, Rob Russell

Edinburgh Rugby:  Blair Kinghorn, Wes Goosen, Mark Bennett, Matt Currie, Duhan van der Merwe, Ben Healy, Charlie Shiel, Pierre Schoeman, Dave Cherry, WP Nel, Glen Young, Grant Gilchrist (CAPT), Tom Dodd, Hamish Watson, Luke Crosbie

Replacements:  Ewan Ashman, Boan Venter, Javan Sebastian, Marshall Sykes, Connor Boyle, Hector Patterson, James Lang, Chris Dean