Leinster squad to face Edinburgh

Leinster drew against the Cardiff Blues last weekend 16-16 and will open their home defence of the Magners League this Friday ahead of the first of four meetings with Edinburgh.

The squad features 11 full Ireland internationals as well as another 10 Ireland 'A' players including Leinster and Ireland's most capped player Malcolm O'Kelly as well as the likes of Jamie Heaslip, Shane Horgan and Brian O'Driscoll.

Leinster are set to be boosted by attendance figures with close to 10,000 season ticket holders already signed up for the new campaign (up from 6,800 last year). Over 12,000 tickets have already been sold for Friday's game and tickets are still available on www.leinsterrugby.ie

The team will be named on Thursday lunchtime.

Leinster squad to face Edinburgh...

BACKS: Chris Whitaker, Chris Keane, Paul O'Donohoe, Jonathan Sexton, Felipe Contepomi, Brian O'Driscoll, Gary Brown, Shane Horgan, Luke Fitzgerald, Isa Nacewa, Fergus McFadden, Rob Kearney, Simon Keogh, Eoin O'Malley, Girvan Dempsey

FORWARDS: Cian Healy, Stephen Knoop, Ronan McCormack, Bernard Jackman, Brian Blaney, John Fogarty, Cameron Jowitt, Malcolm O'Kelly, Devin Toner, Trevor Hogan, Stephen Keogh, Shane Jennings, Sean O'Brien, Kevin McLaughlin, Jamie Heaslip

REFEREE: Tim Hayes (WRU), ASSISTANT REFEREES: M Black (IRFU), J Peake (IRFU), TMO: Brian MacNeice (IRFU), 4th OFFICIAL: Paul Haycock (ARLB), 5th OFFICIAL: Ed Kenny (ARLB)