Preview: Leinster v Edinburgh

Alex Blair will make his Edinburgh debut in Saturday's clash with Leinster as the Gunners hunt their fourth straight Magners League win.

Alex Blair will make his Edinburgh debut in Saturday's clash with Leinster as the Gunners hunt their fourth successive Magners League victory.

Blair, a member of the Scotland Sevens team that competed in the Commonwealth Games earlier this month, starts at ten as part of a half-back pairing where Mike, one of his elder brothers, takes the other berth having shaken off the bug that kept him out of the win over Ulster.

Edinburgh's other Blair sibling, David, has been excused the trip to Dublin as a precaution after suffering a blow to the head during midweek.

“I've been working hard to earn this opportunity, and I'm really grateful to the coaches for having shown this level of faith in me,” said Alex Blair, speaking to edinburghrugby.org.

“Dave's been playing really well recently, so it's unlucky for him that he needs to miss out this weekend, but you've got to grasp your chances as and when they come, and I'll certainly be aiming to make the most of this one.

“It will be good to have Mike beside me at half-back, not just because he's my brother, but because he's a hugely experienced player who'll be able to give me a few pointers when he feels it's required.

“It's a big game to be making my debut in, but I'm relishing the thought of going to a place like the RDS and showing what we're all about.

“As a team, we're all really keen to keep this good run going and add to the momentum that's been building.”

Moffat's starting line-up shows four personnel changes over and above the two at half-back. Ross Ford and Roddy Grant, rested against Ulster, return at hooker and number eight respectively, while John Houston and Alex Grove are in at centre.

James King, who has lined up at 12 in the last two games, misses out after taking a blow to his knee in training, throwing the door open for Houston to make his first Edinburgh start of the season.

Scott Newlands, a fellow member of the Scotland Sevens Commonwealth Games team, is named among the replacements, and will make his 50th Edinburgh appearance should he enter the fray.

Meanwhile, Leo Cullen leads the team on his 140th appearance and partners Nathan Hines in the second row for the visit of the Scottish side on Saturday.

Dominic Ryan, fresh from his late try in the 18-6 victory over Connacht last weekend, starts in the back-row alongside Shane Jennings and Stephen Keogh.

In the backline, Shane Horgan makes his 189th appearance for the province and the Boyne man forms an exciting looking back three with Isa Nacewa and Andrew Conway, with Paul O'Donohoe partnering Ian Madigan at half-back.

In a further boost, Shaun Berne takes his place amongst the replacements for the first time since May where he is joined by Ireland internationals Isaac Boss and Rhys Ruddock.

Form: The two teams have already met in the Magners League this season with Edinburgh winning 32-24 at Murrayfield in round four, whilst the Scots have not won in Dublin since a trip to Donnybrook on 6 November 2005. Leinster have secured four straight wins in all competitions since their 24-32 reversal in Edinburgh in the Magners League on 24 September. The Leinstermen have not lost a regular season game at the RDS since Munster were the visitors on 28 September 2008. Edinburgh Rugby have won their last three games in the Magners League since the 21-29 defeat in Ulster in round three. The Scotsmen's only away win in their last eleven trips was 10-9 in Aironi on 2 October.

The teams:

Leinster: 15 Isa Nacewa, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Eoin O'Malley, 12 Fergus McFadden, 11 Andrew Conway, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Paul O'Donohoe, 8 Stephen Keogh, 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Dominic Ryan, 5 Nathan Hines, 4 Leo Cullen (c), 3 Clint Newland/Mike Ross, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Heinke van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Jason Harris-Wright, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Simon Shawe, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Shaun Berne, 23 David Kearney.

Edinburgh: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Jim Thompson, 13 Alex Grove, 12 John Houston, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Alex Blair, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Roddy Grant (capt), 7 Ross Rennie, 6 Netani Talei, 5 Fraser McKenzie, 4 Scott MacLeod, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 David Young, 19 Esteban Lozada, 20 Scott Newlands, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 David Bishop, 23 Mark Robertson.

Date: Saturday, October 30
Kick-off: 18:05 BST
Venue: Royal Dublin Society
Referee: Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Assistant referees: Leo Colgan (Ireland), Jude Quinn (Ireland)
Television match official: Dermot Moloney (Ireland)
Assessor: Tom Aplin (Ireland)