Magners League / Cormac O'Keeffe / 11 September 2008 / 1 Comments

The four Irish provinces experienced mixed fortunes in week one of the Magner's League. Munster were the only province to register a win, although Leinster did earn a valuable draw away to Cardiff. On Friday two of the provinces kick off the second week of the competition hoping to improve on their week one results. Cormac O' Keefe previews what may be in store.

Leinster v Edinburgh

Defending champions Leinster host their bogey team Edinburgh hoping to build on last week's battling draw with Cardiff. Edinburgh looked very poor in defeat to Munster and Leinster should have no difficulty in registering their first win of the competition. The Donnybrook faithful would have garnered great encouragement from a solid performance and the wonderful individual try by new recruit Isa Nacewa and a capacity crowd will be there to cheer Leinster on. However, they will have to wait a while to see Nacewa in action as he drops to the bench along with Shane Horgan. They are replaced by Irish internationals Luke Fitzgerald and Girvan Dempsey whilst Stan Wright and Trevor Hogan come into the pack.

It is vital for Leinster that they win most of their home games, especially at this stage of the league where they do not have the distraction of the Heineken Cup, which starts early next month.

The combination of Leinster's power up front, their exciting backs, and the trusty boot of Contepomi should mean that a 20-point victory is achievable. The most likely threats for first tryscorer are Fitzgerald and Kearney and I would recommend backing Leinster in the half-time/full-time market and also to cover the handicap, which will probably be about 12 points.

Leinster Team
Backs: 15 G Dempsey, 14 L Fitzgerald, 13 B O'Driscoll, 12 F Contepomi, 11 R Kearney, 10 J Sexton, 9 C Whitaker (Capt)
Forwards: 1 R McCormack, 2 B Jackman, 3 S Wright, 4 T Hogan, 5 M O'Kelly, 6 C Jowitt, 7 SJennings, 8 J Heaslip

Cardiff v Ulster

Ulster travel to Cardiff hoping to improve on their disappointing home defeat to Llanelli where they failed to score a try. It won't be easy however as last year's Magner's League runners up Cardiff have lofty ambitions of going one better this year. Their impressive performance last week against Leinster showed that this is a realistic goal and they should have too much in hand for Ulster.

Ulster make two changes with Ryan Caldwell replacing Carlo Del Fava at lock and David Pollock deputising for Kieron Dawson in the back row.
Ulster has strengthened somewhat this year with the addition of BJ Botha, Timoci Nagusa but the loss of Tommy Bowe and Neil Best will be difficult to overcome. Their defence was a real weak point last year so there should be plenty of tries in this one. Cardiff should win by about 10 points.

Ulster Side:
Backs: 15 C Schifcofske, 14 A Trimble, 13 D Cave, 12 R Dewey, 11 T Nagusa; 10 P Wallace, 9 I Boss
Forwards: 1 J Fitzpatrick; 2 R Best(Capt), 3 B Botha, 4 R Caldwell, 5 E O'Donoghue, 6 M McCullough, 7 D Pollock, 8 R Diack

Recommended Bet:
A double on Cardiff and Leinster is the best bet of the week.