Jack McGrath and the tighthead propping experiment will not be entertained by Leinster coach Matt O'Connor.
“Jack won’t be laying tighthead for us,” said O’Connor. “He did a bit of time there in Argentina. I don’t know what [Ireland] have been doing with him out in camp over the last couple of days. We certainly wouldn’t want to water down his ability to be as good on the other side of the scrum as he can be. We think he’s a fantastic loosehead and that’s where he will be playing for us.”
O’Connor will keep McGrath and Cian Healy in competition while Tadhg Furlong and Marty Moore – who makes his seasonal debut on Friday against the Cardiff Blues – pile the pressure on 34-year-old veteran Mike Ross for Leinster’s number three jersey.
Ireland camp this week means O’Connor gets one field session with the majority of his first-team squad on Wednesday ahead of Cardiff’s visit to Dublin.
That's also when Kane Douglas, the Wallaby lock who arrived over the weekend, should make his debut for the province.
“He just arrived this morning, did a lineout walk through and you can really see his class, that he is an international secondrow, how quickly he picked up everything,” said Dominic Ryan. “When you got a lineout menu with 50 or 60 calls and he pretty much nails it all, that’s impressive.”
Friday’s Pro12 fixture is arguably not the most important game for Leinster this week. That would be the South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL Preliminary final against Sonny Bill Williams’s Sydney Roosters, which also takes place Friday.
If the Rabbitohs beat the defending champions then Ben Te’o – Brian O’Driscoll’s overseas replacement – will not make the switch to union for a few more weeks.”
