Low grade hamstring strain, should be available next week.

What's the story with James Connolly?
He's on the unavailable/injured list on the website. Presume he's 'unavailable' and not injured.

I met him at the game last weekend and he (Poolman) thought he would be back for sure for this weekend but perhaps injury did not clear up fully as expected. They list him as unavailable/injured on the Connacht Rugby website.

Decadence wrote: did Danie take a knock in the last game?

He hurt his ribs against Newcastle away, must not have cleared up. I still fancy Niyi over Dave Kearney

That's a strong Leinster side, so much for the Ireland training camp, but good to see the inter pros being respected this year.

Having McCartney and Heenan back is terrific, glad Tom is being thrown into the 1 shirt. Bit surprised Dillane isn't starting, did Danie take a knock in the last game?

Heenan 's back, so it looks like Connachta got his Christmas wish
Hopefully he stays fit now.

15 Tiernan O’Halloran
14 Niyi Adeolokun
13 Bundee Aki
12 Craig Ronaldson
11 Matt Healy
10 Jack Carty
9 Kieran Marmion

1 Finlay Bealham
2 Tom McCartney
3 Nathan White
4 Aly Muldowney
5 Andrew Browne
6 John Muldoon (captain)
7 Jake Heenan
8 Eoghan Masterson

Replacements:

16 Dave Heffernan
17 Ronan Loughney
18 Rodney Ah You
19 Ultan Dillane
20 Sean O’Brien
21 Ian Porter
22 AJ MacGinty
23 Rory Parata



Jake Hennan lads! Welcome surprise - hopefully he is absolutely 100% this time coming back


Leinster aide look's strong :

15. Rob Kearney
14. Fergus McFadden
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Ben Te'o
11. Dave Kearney
10. Johnny Sexton
9. Luke McGrath
1. Jack McGrath
2. Richardt Strauss
3. Marty Moore
4. Devin Toner
5. Mike McCarthy
6. Rhys Ruddock CAPTAIN
7. Josh van der Flier
8. Jordi Murphy

16. James Tracy
17. Peter Dooley
18. Michael Bent
19. Ross Molony
20. Sean O'Brien
21. Eoin Reddan
22. Ian Madigan
23. Zane Kirchner

George Clancy. There goes any chance of a good game. :sick: :sick:

Danie Poolman and Tom McCartney back available for selection is a big boost. We'll have to see how Leinster line up for this one. Either way they look to have found a bit of form. They were solid against Munster without needing to do anything special.

After losing 3 of the last 4 it's hard to escape the feeling that this is one of the stages we have every season where things run away from us a bit. However, Leinster in the RDS usually brings out a big performance in us and while we haven't won there we should have on at least 2 occasions.

Preview: Leinster v Connacht

Leinster climbed into third place in the Guinness PRO12 table with their fifth successive victory in the tournament, at Munster on Sunday. The Leinstermen have won all five home games in the PRO12 this season whilst their only defeat at the RDS Arena in the tournament since March 2013 was to Newport Gwent Dragons in February.

Connacht remained in second place in the standings despite a second successive loss, at home to Ulster on Saturday. Connacht have gained at least one league point from each of their last twelve fixtures in the competition.

Each side won its respective home games when the two teams clashed in the Guinness PRO12 last season whilst Connacht have never won in their 8 previous visits to the RDS Arena, with their only victory in Dublin since 1985 coming at Donnybrook in 2002.

At RDS Arena, 5pm.
Live on TG4

Referee: George Clancy (IRFU, 75th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Leo Colgan, Mark Patton (both IRFU)
Citing Commissioner: Peter Ferguson (IRFU)
TMO: Marshall Kilgore (IRFU)