Magners League - Game of the Week
Leinster and Ospreys go head-to-head
Scrum.com
September 17, 2009
Ospreys fullback Lee Byrne runs with the ball, Ospreys v Treviso, Heineken Cup, Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Wales, December 6, 2008
Lee Byrne returns to action for the Ospreys © Getty Images
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Tournaments/Tours: Magners League
Teams: Ireland | Leinster | Ospreys | Wales

Heineken Cup champions Leinster travel to face the stuttering Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium on Friday night, with the teams having registered one victory apiece from the opening rounds of Magners League action.

Both sides are able to call on players who have finished their rest periods following the British & Irish Lions tour, with Leinster welcoming Lions lock and high-profile summer signing Nathan Hines in to the starting XV for the first time.

Hines starts alongside Malcolm O'Kelly in the second-row, while Stan Wright lines up alongside Cian Healy and John Fogarty up front.

Ireland scrum-half Eoin Reddan partners Jonathan Sexton at halfback in a backline which also sees Gordon D'Arcy come in for his first start of the season after joining the Lions tour as a replacement. The back three of David Kearney, Shane Horgan and Isa Nacewa remains the same from the one that started last weekend's 23-14 victory over the Dragons.

The Ospreys have not made the most fluent start to the campaign, struggling past Connacht in Galway before losing to Ulster at home last weekend. Skipper Ryan Jones misses out on the game due to bruised ribs, meaning that Marty Holah takes the captain's armband and forms a formidable looking back-row partnership with Jerry Collins and Tom Smith.

Lee Byrne returns at fullback for the first time since leaving South Africa, with Tommy Bowe joining him in the back-three. James Hook starts at fly-half alongside Jamie Nutbrown, with Mike Phillips on the bench. Phillips is joined there by Lions lock Alun-Wyn Jones. Andrew Bishop makes his 100th Ospreys appearance in the centre, alongside Jonathan Spratt.

Ospreys: Lee Byrne; Tommy Bowe; Jonathan Spratt, Andrew Bishop; Nikki Walker; James Hook, Jamie Nutbrown; Duncan Jones, Huw Bennett, Craig Mitchell, Ian Gough, Jonathan Thomas, Jerry Collins, Marty Holah (Capt), Tom Smith

Replacements: Richard Hibbard, Paul James, Alun-Wyn Jones, Filo Tiatia, Mike Phillips, Dan Biggar, Gareth Owen

Leinster: Isa Nacewa; Shane Horgan; Gordon D'Arcy, Shaun Berne David Kearney, Jonathan Sexton, Eoin Reddan; Cian Healy, John Fogarty, Stan Wright, Nathan Hines, Malcolm O'Kelly, Kevin McLaughlin, Shane Jennings (capt), Sean O'Brien.

Replacements (from): Bernard Jackman, Mike Ross, Leo Cullen, Devin Toner, Stephen Keogh, Chris Keane, Fergus McFadden, Simon Keogh.

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