I was amazed when I was just looking it up there. Joey Carbery left Leinster to go to Munster in 2018, eight years ago and Leo Cullen is still smarting over that decision.
Carbery obviously had a bit of time at Bordeaux-Begles as well. But he’s back in Leinster colours and playing with Jamison Gibson-Park who is back for his first game of the season tonight.
So that just adds another level of intrigue to the game, as does the selection of Dan Sheehan, who starts at number eight.
Carbery missed the run-in to Bordeaux winning the Champions Cup last year. He came on as a sub last week.
But obviously they’re happy in training. They do so much prep, so much rehab now after an injury like that.
He’s fully fit to start. The likes of Sam Prendergast will be gone with Ireland over the next month or so.
So I think Cullen is keen to get Joey Carbery in there. He’s a very experienced player at this stage. But I’m really looking forward to see how he performs.
Dan Sheehan will be sharing the back row with Josh van der Flier
Meanwhile, Sheehan is a player of many talents. He has slotted in at number eight, albeit in the back end of games. I think he did against Sale in the Champions Cup last year.
I won’t say a strange one but it’s a trend, certainly at international rugby, of hybrid players playing in different positions.
His ball-carrying is incredible. I don’t think he will have any issue. The one thing I am looking forward to is what he does in the lineout.
He’s spent his whole career throwing in the ball. Is he a lifter? Is he a jumper? I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up being the dominant lineout figure of the night. I remember his brother Bobby played hooker, prop and number eight for UCD.
He obviously has the talent, he’s a brilliant player. It’s just something different. We’ve seen Rassie Erasmus do this with a whole host of different players in South African colours, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it works out.
For Munster, obviously Charlie O’Shea is capturing the headlines at 21 years of age. But you also have Ben O’Connor, who is only 22, and Shay McCarthy who is 23.
To be fair to Clayton McMillan, he’s bringing through a lot of the younger players. We saw Brian Gleeson start last week and Sean Edogbo, although both of them are on the bench.
So Munster are developing young talent. I think it’s typical Munster, they’ll be looking for a cause as they always do, the chip on the shoulder.
Ben O’Connor in action against Racing 92
When Andy Farrell named his Ireland squad, Munster had only two players in it. That certainly wouldn’t have gone down well, although to be fair to Andy Farrell, with the exception of Jeremy Loughman who has been involved with Ireland a lot recently, you couldn’t make a case for a lot of the guys who have been left out.
Overall, you look at that Leinster pack, they’ve eight full Irish internationals – seven Lions in fact – and a full Irish international team which is incredible when you think about it.
Munster have been brilliant at times. I’ve been really impressed with them against Racing last week. But they just lack the consistency over 80 minutes.
You go back to the game against Ulster the previous week. They were 26-5 up at half-time and ended up hanging on to a 26-all draw.
Overall, I think Leinster will be too strong but I would just like to see Munster continuing in the same vein.
Donal Lenihan was speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and email us at sportpodcasts@rte.ie