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**dudeabides** · 12-23-2009, 06:10 PM

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For those who find the peace and love a little bit too much at this time of year there comes a weekend of Magners League action that should see no love lost across the fields of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The top two fight it out in Scotland in our Game of the Week as Edinburgh take the trip to Firhill on Sunday level on points with leaders Glasgow. It's the first of two Scottish derbies in seven days and the games will go a long way to testing the title credentials of both sides.

Glasgow boss Sean Lineen has made just one change to the side beaten at Gloucester in the Heineken Cup weekend, with Thom Evans, who has recovered from a knee injury, returning on the left wing. That sees DTH van der Merwe switch to the right and Dave McCall drop out.

Edinburgh, meanwhile, make three changes to the side which overcame Bath at Murrayfield last weekend. Scott MacLeod returns to the second row after recovering from a minor back problem and he will be joined in the front five by Allan Jacobsen, who returns at loose-head at the expense of Kyle Traynor. Roddy Grant reclaims the openside flanker berth from Ross Rennie.

They don't call December 26 Boxing Day in Ireland, but that might change after an evening which will see Munster host Connacht and Leinster welcome Ulster to the RDS.

Munster's preparations have been completely overshadowed by the news that Denis Leamy has been ruled out of action for between four and six months with a knee injury. The versatile back-row pulled up in the closing stages of Sunday's Heineken Cup victory over Perpignan and was forced to undergo surgery at a clinic in Dublin on Tuesday. The reigning Magners League champions will also take to the field without captain Paul O'Connell and four others who started at the Stade Aime Giral.

Ulster will look to bounce back from their Heineken Cup loss to Stade Francais by recording a league double over Leinster. However, the Ulstermen travel south without four key players in Andrew Trimble, Paddy Wallace, Tom Court and Stephen Ferris, all of whom have been rested after their exertions in Paris.

Leinster, meanwhile, will be without CJ van der Linde for the visit of Ulster. The South African prop was forced off after just 28 minutes of last weekend's Heineken Cup victory over the Scarlets in Dublin with a calf problem and has been left out of the squad completely. Nathan Hines has been included, though, despite the fact that the Scotland lock had be replaced three minutes into the second half of the Scarlets clash because of an injury.

However, Jonathan Sexton remains sidelined with the broken fingers he sustained in Ireland's win over South Africa last month. The fly-half is now expected to make his Leinster return in the January 2 clash with Connacht.

The aforementioned Scarlets will look for a Boxing Day boost against the Ospreys in a mouthwatering Welsh derby, while fourth placed Dragons will look to regain their Magners League form after back-to-back European defeats to Biarritz with a visit to Cardiff on Sunday.

'Tis the season for a derby | Rugby Union | Global | Rugby News | Scrum.com

**dudeabides** · 12-26-2009, 11:52 PM

Here are how the holiday thrashing went about:

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Rob Kearney and Jamie Heaslip rounded off their year in style by scoring Leinster's tries in a 15-3 victory over Ulster at the RDS.

The European champions made it 10 straight Magners League wins at their Dublin base, with the result moving them back to the top of the league table temporarily. Ulster fielded an under-strength team, with Grand Slam winners Paddy Wallace, Tom Court and Stephen Ferris rested as part of the IRFU Player Management Programme, while Willie Faloon replaced late cry-off David Pollock at openside flanker.

Leinster fly-half Shaun Berne opened the scoring with a penalty and Ulster were down to 14 men when flanker Thomas Anderson saw yellow for going over the top. Niall O'Connor levelled the scores but Kearney was immediately on hand to restore Leinster's lead.

Gordon D'Arcy made the score with a neat step and sweetly-delivered offload out of contact and Kearney raced over under the posts. Ulster's defence slipped up again six minutes into the second half when Kearney battled to gather his own garryowen inside the visitors' half and deftly passed to the supporting Heaslip, who swatted the cover aside with a powerful hand-off and galloped over to the left of the posts.

A brace of tries from prop Paul James and a composed performance from fly-half Dan Biggar saw the Ospreys to a 21-14 victory over the Scarlets at Parc y Scarlets.

Despite their early dominance of possession and territory the home side were unable to pull clear of their star-studded visitors, with only a Stephen Jones penalty separating the teams after the opening quarter.

Their lack of a cutting edge was exploited when James ghosted through a static Scarlets lineout to score, his Shane Williams-like swan dive drawing cheers from the travelling support before Biggar smashed over the conversion. A long-range penalty from Rhys Priestland reduced the Scarlets' deficit to one soon after and a harsh penalty against Gareth Owen produced a two-point lead at the break thanks to another accurate effort from Jones.

Immediately following the restart James collected a bobbling pass from Biggar to score his second and two quick-fire penalties from the fly-half cemented the Ospreys' lead. The home side rallied and camped on their opponents' line for 12 laboured phases, their pick and drive continually repelled by a watertight Ospreys defence led by an impressive back-row of Marty Holah, Jerry Collins and Ryan Jones. Biggar's third penalty made the points safe but the Scarlets secured a losing bonus-point as Jonathan Davies crashed over in the last play of the game.

Reigning champions Munster kept the heat on their playoff rivals with a 35-3 victory over Connacht at Thomond Park.

There was no repeat of Connacht's 12-6 victory at this time last year as an under-strength Munster side was able to continue the momentum generated by a stunning Heineken cup victory over Perpignan last weekend. Springbok centre Jean de Villiers was again on the scoresheet, crossing for the bonus-point try on the final whistle as his stock continues to rise in Limerick.De Villiers started in midfield in a much-changed XV, with Paul O'Connell, David Wallace, Doug Howlett and Keith Earls among the players rested.

Quick-fire first-half tries from Ian Dowling and former Wasps hooker Damien Varley knocked the wind out of Michael Bradley's stubborn side, who were further damaged by a 32nd minute sin-binning for wing Troy Nathan.

Ronan O'Gara chipped in with both conversions as well as a brace of first-half penalties, with his replacement Paul Warwick cancelling out Connacht's only points, a 40th minute penalty from reliable pivot Ian Keatley, by landing a penalty and rounding off their third score.

Leinster close on a high | Rugby Union | Celtic League | Rugby News | Scrum.com