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https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/news\/forgotten-ireland-7-returns-as-leinster-rest-overseas-superstar\/ <\/p>\nmens<\/p>\n
united-rugby-championship<\/p>\n
Rieko Ioane of Leinster after the United Rugby Championship match between Munster and Leinster at Thomond Park in Limerick. (Photo By Piaras \u00d3 M\u00eddheach\/Sportsfile via Getty Images) https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/news\/forgotten-ireland-7-returns-as-leinster-rest-overseas-superstar\/ <\/p>\n
Leinster<\/a> have welcomed back Will Connors<\/a> for the first time since October while leaving overseas signing Rieko Ioane<\/a> out of the matchday 23 for Friday\u2019s BKT United Rugby Championship<\/a> meeting with Connacht<\/a> at the Aviva Stadium.<\/p>\n The 6\u20195 looseforward returns on the openside flank in a back row that also features Diarmuid Mangan<\/a> at blindside and Jack Conan<\/a> at No.8.<\/p>\n The former Ireland<\/a> international has endured a stop-start period with injury.<\/p>\n Ioane\u2019s omission is the other headline from the team sheet. The All Blacks<\/a> centre is presumably rested after a busy run of December fixtures.<\/p>\n Leinster have instead opted for the youthful midfield pairing of Charlie Tector<\/a> and Hugh Cooney.<\/p>\n Dan Sheehan captains the side from hooker, packing down between Andrew Porter<\/a> and Thomas Clarkson<\/a> in the front row. British & Irish Lions<\/a> star Joe McCarthy<\/a> and Brian Deeny<\/a> combine in the engine room, while Jamison Gibson-Park<\/a> and Sam Prendergast<\/a> continue their half-back partnership.<\/p>\n The back three sees Ciar\u00e1n Frawley retained at full-back following the win over Munster<\/a> at Thomond. He\u2019s flanked by Tommy O\u2019Brien and rookie speedster Joshua Kenny<\/a> on the wings. Kenny has enjoyed an impressive first half of the season and will no doubt want to put down a marker against the interprovincial rivals.<\/p>\n Leo Cullen has opted for a 6:2 bench split. Josh van der Flier and Max Deegan<\/a> provide experience while academy lock Conor O\u2019Tihearnaigh is named among the replacements.<\/p>\n Gus McCarthy, Jack Boyle<\/a>, Rabah Slimani<\/a>, Luke McGrath<\/a> and Harry Byrne<\/a> complete the bench.<\/p>\n Leinster Rugby:15. Ciar\u00e1n Frawley; 14. Tommy O\u2019Brien, 13. Hugh Cooney<\/a>, 12. Charlie Tector<\/a>, 11. Joshua Kenny; 10. Sam Prendergast<\/a>, 9. Jamison Gibson-Park; 1. Andrew Porter<\/a>, 2. Dan Sheehan<\/a> (capt), 3. Thomas Clarkson<\/a>, 4. Joe McCarthy<\/a>, 5. Brian Deeny<\/a>, 6. Diarmuid Mangan<\/a>, 7. Will Connors<\/a>, 8. Jack Conan.<\/p>\n Replacements:16. Gus McCarthy<\/a>, 17. Jack Boyle, 18. Rabah Slimani, 19. Conor O\u2019Tihearnaigh, 20. Max Deegan<\/a>, 21. Josh van der Flier, 22. Luke McGrath<\/a>, 23. Harry Byrne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"mens united-rugby-championship Rieko Ioane of Leinster after the United Rugby Championship match between Munster and Leinster at Thomond…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-214840","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}