Confident Kidney keeps the faith for Bourgoin rematch

LEINSTER coach Declan Kidney has named an unchanged side to face Bourgoin in the Heineken Cup at Stade Pierre Rajon tomorrow night (kick-off 7.30 Irish time). Unsurprisingly, the Leinster mentor has kept faith with the starting 15 who rattled up all sorts of records in the 13-try, 92-point demolition of the club currently lying second in the French championship at Lansdowne Road a week ago. There is some concern over the fitness of lock Leo Cullen who retired at half-time with an injured shoulder in that game. Cullen has been named to play and according to manager Paul McNaughton is almost certain to line out. "We are confident that Leo will be okay but we will give him a final fitness run over there. Ben Gissing will be on standby just in case," said McNaughton before departure yesterday. Gissing is one of ten replacements named but on the assumption that Cullen comes through unscathed then whether it is Ciaran Potts or Aidan McCullen to cover the backrow would appear the only issue still to be addressed. So with Kidney set to name pretty much the same match day squad, will motivating the players be a problem given what transpired in the Lansdowne mismatch a week ago? "When you've been playing in Europe for ten years and you've only won once in France then there's a big challenge ahead," said Kedney. "Last week was a bit surreal in that you don't often get 92 points but I think there's a bit of Irishness in it as well because if it was the other way around - as it has often been in the past - we'd be talking about how bad we were and about how good the French were," added the coach. "We know for example we had a few passes that went to hand the last day that don't always go to hand. Between David (Holwell) and Felipe (Contepomi) we had two great inside passes and they were both held very well but on another day you mightn't catch those but in creating chances I thought it was quite good. Now we're going to have to create those and be as good in our execution on Friday night. "I've been there in the past with Munster and I know how tough a place it is to win. In the South of France they play with an enormous amount of pride." Was he surprised at the Bourgoin attitude in Dublin? "A lot has been made of it but we had to make as many tackles as we did in any other game. In fact we missed more than we have in any other game this season. If we repeat that on Friday night we're going to be beaten. They are going to be so much fresher this week." Following their equally impressive drubbing of French opposition in the shape of Montpellier (56-3), Connacht have made just one change for tomorrow night's European Challenge Cup second round, second leg tie at the Stade Sabathe (kick-off 6.30 Irish time). Coach Michael Bradley, never slow to rotate his squad, brings in Pieter Myburgh to the second row in place of Christian Short who drops down to the bench. Meanwhile, there was a nasty surprise for members of the Munster squad when they returned to their dressing room following a training session at University of Limerick. They discovered that a break-in had taken place with mobile phones, money, jewellery and other personal belongings stolen. Entry was gained through a window in the shower room. Munster play Castres in a crucial Heineken Cup game this weekend. LEINSTER (v Bourgoin) - G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, F Contepomi, D Hickie; D Holwell, G Easterby; R Corrigan (Captain), S Byrne, E Byrne; L Cullen, M O'Kelly; E Miller, S Jennings, V Costello. Subs (from): R Nebbett, P Coyle, D Blaney, C Potts, A McCullen, D Dillon, B O'Meara, G Brown, K Lewis, B Gissing. CONNACHT (v Montpellier) - M Mostyn; T Robinson, P Warwick, J Downey, C McPhillips; E Elwood, C Keane; R Hogan, B Jackman, S Knoop; P Myburgh, A Farley (Captain); M Swift, J Muldoon, J O'Sullivan. Subs: J Fogarty, D McFarland, P Bracken, C Short, B O'Connor, C O'Loughlin, M Walls. - Tony Ward