MATCH THREAD: Benetton Ruvs Leinster; Stadio Monigo Sat 02nd Dec 15:30; TG4

It ain't no sea. Yes, Ringrose, Lowe and Larmour are all starting for Leinster tomorrow meaning flood warnings are in effect for parts of Dublin....

With the Autumn Internationals out of the way full focus now returns to the provinces a week out from Round 3 of Europe. Leinster travel to Treviso to face a side that have come close to a few surprising results already this season, losing in the dying minutes at home to Toulon and away to Ulster being the 2 stand outs. They have been far more competitive than in recent seasons, which is great news for the league and for Italian rugby.

Leinster have to make do without a number of their first choice players who are either rested or injured. By my count there are at least 15 missing in total that would feature ahead of guys selected today. And yet when you look at the selection Leinster have been able to field it is still quite a strong one. 11 of the starters have international caps with a further 3 on the bench. Garry Ringrose returns from injury for his first start in over 6 months and James Lowe makes his long awaited debut for the province. Vakh Abdaladze is also in line for his Leinster debut off the bench.

The pack looks strong with a core of very talented and reasonably experienced players throughout. Only Porter and Nagle would stand out and both of those have gone well in their recent showings for Leinster. In the back line Leinster seem primed to run it from everywhere. Both half backs are comfortable kicking from hand, but outside of them are a bunch of players most at home with ball in hand. There's a good bit of mobility in the pack too so I'd expect this to be a pretty expansive and exciting affair from the visitors.

There's a few guys in there who may be rusty or a bit inexperienced with the set-up and the bench, while good, isn't where we are going to be winning this game. We'll make our share of errors and Treviso will try to make a mess of things as much as possible, but there is huge potential in this side. Treviso have won 2 of their 4 home games this season, getting the LBP in 1 of the losses. But I'm still going to go TBP win for Leinster by 14 points.