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One cap lreland wing makes Leinster return 22 months after last appearance
By Kim Ekin
One cap Ireland international Adam Byrne has returned to a Leinster starting fifteen for the first time in nearly two years.
Capped by Ireland in 2017, Byrne hasn't played for his home province since December 2019 when he started against Munster. The 6'3, 98kg former Ireland Sevens star - who was once touted as an outside bet to make 2017 British & Irish Lions by Will Greenwood - returned to training in June after a long-standing hamstring injury.
The Kildare man will be eager to add to his 57 Leinster caps to date and his impressive strike rate of 20 tries.
The 27-year-old won his first cap for Ireland against Argentina during the 2017 November Tests and will be eager to start the long road back to the Test arena after effectively a near two-year hiatus from competitive rugby.
Elsewhere Leinster have named six Irish internationals in their pack. Ed Byrne and Seán Cronin come in this week but it's a third start in-a-row for new signing Michael Ala'alatoa who will experience the RDS Arena for the first time. Devin Toner is involved in a matchday 23 for the first time this campaign and starts in the second row alongside Ryan Baird.
In the back row, Dan Leavy starts his first game of the season, as does Scott Penny, with Rhys Ruddock retained from the starting XV last week but moving from blindside flanker to No 8 for tomorrow's game. On the bench, Rónan Kelleher is back involved with Leinster for the first time this season having toured with the British and Irish Lions to South Africa during the summer.
Leinster Rugby: Jimmy O’Brien, Adam Byrne, Jamie Osborne, Ciarán Frawley, Jordan Larmour, Harry Byrne, Luke McGrath (CAPT), Ed Byrne, Seán Cronin, Michael Ala’alatoa, Ryan Baird, Devin Toner, Dan Leavy, Scott Penny, Rhys Ruddock
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Peter Dooley, Cian Healy, Ross Molony, Max Deegan, Nick McCarthy, Johnny Sexton, Rob Russell
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Latest Comments
Lakai? Hell no, Kirifi is the like for like. I could never imagine Lakai throwing a dummy like Ardie, his had’s and offload are probably his best asset. Still a good option to replace Ardies function within the group. Happy for that to phase in slowly over the next two years.
Kirifi is someone demanding attention as Ardie’s/the teams go to back up option though. Like with you’re Kaino ref though, happy for that to reverse back again if Lakai simply starts outperforming him again. The Kaino role has really been filled by Cane (perhaps because they didn’t find a replacement) and the 6’s that have been used are more like a Read/Jones/Flavell/Fifita.
I really do like the idea of that rock being a little bigger and a little tougher than Cane though. Miracle looks like that guy, and there are few possible young kiwis coming through too. Barrett over Vaa’i for me, he just has a little of the mongrol and flair you also want.
Go to commentsI think you have gone in the wrong direction here Nick. I think you need to delve down into the rules etc around Moana Pacifica’s selection policies and then you need to understand that a lot of KIWI BORN rugby players have PI heritage. It appears ok for the 4 home nations to pillage NZ born players constantly without retribution but you want to question whether NZ BORN players should be eligible for NZ? Seems a real agenda in there.
Go back and look at the actual Aims and agenda for MP becoming a entity and you see lots of things enshrined in policy that you arnt mentioning here. EG there is an allowance for a percentage of MP to be NZ eligible. This was done so MP could actually become competitive. Lets be real. If it wasnt this way then MP would not be competitive.
There also seems to be some sort of claim ( mainly from the NH ) that NZ is “cashing in” on MP, which , quite frankly is a major error. Are you aware of how much MP costs NZR Financially?
39 NZ born rugby players played at the last world cup for Samoa or Tonga. PLUS plenty for Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales.
Taumoefolau is a BORN AND BRED NZer. However I very strongly doubt he will be an AB, but who do you believe he should be allowed to play for? Levi Aumua is ALSO a born and bred Kiwi.
Aumua was eligible to represent Samoa and Fiji for the Pacific Nations Cup in July that year but ended up playing for neither. He IS eligible for his nation of Birth too Nick
He is a Kiwi. Are you saying an NZ born, raised Kiwi cant play for NZ now?
Sorry Nick Kiwi born and bred actually qualify for NZ.
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