Leinster ‘A’ team to face Moseley named

January 15, 2016 12:00 am client

The Leinster ‘A’ team to face Moseley in round 5 of the British & Irish Cup has been named.

There are six personnel changes to the starting XV from the round 4 win over Ealing Trailfinders last month.

Billy Dardis comes in at full-back in place of Cian Kelleher who is named on the bench.

Tom Daly shifts to outside centre with Steve Crosbie coming in to start in the number 12 jersey.

Darragh Fanning starts on the left wing, with Nick McCarthy starting at scrum-half to complete the changes in the back line.

In the pack, Peter Dooley and Ross Molony’s call-ups to the senior squad for the Champions Cup match with Bath sees Jeremy Loughman come in to start at loosehead and David O’Connor named in the second row with Tadhg Beirne.

Peadar Timmins once again captains the team.

Speaking ahead of the game, Leinster ‘A’ head coach Hugh Hogan said: “We’re expecting a tough challenge this week with Moseley. Their Championship standing belies their form. They’re a team that can play well, especially at home. They’ve had a couple of narrow losses to probably the best teams in the Championship; they ran Bristol very close, they ran Bedford very close, and they’re probably disappointed to come out losing those games against teams that are pushing for promotion. We’re not taking them lightly.

“The other challenge going over to Moseley this weekend is the conditions. We’ll have one half going into the wind and one half with the wind. Getting our tactics right is important. Moseley play there most weeks and it’s something that they manage very well in the footage we’ve seen. In B&I round one they were 31-5 down at half-time against Ealing but turned around with the wind and they ended up winning the game.

“There’s the added benefit of knowing if we get a win we’ll have qualified, which is brilliant, but we’re just focusing on this weekend. We’ll have a look at Rotherham and talk about Rotherham early next week. We’re fighting with Moseley to win that group at the moment. We’re on 19 points, they’re on 14 points and if they beat us they’re going to close that gap. The group is by no means won yet. Our focus is, as best we can, to try and dominate this fixture, win the game and then secure qualification.”

Leinster ‘A’ return to Donnybrook next Friday to face Rotherham Titans (KO 7.30pm).

Leinster ‘A’

15. Billy Dardis
14. Adam Byrne
13. Tom Daly
12. Steve Crosbie
11. Darragh Fanning
10. Cathal Marsh
9. Nick McCarthy
1. Jeremy Loughman
2. Bryan Byrne
3. Oisin Heffernan
4. David O’Connor
5. Tadhg Beirne
6. Josh Murphy
7. Dan Leavy
8. Peadar Timmins CAPTAIN

Replacements