"He has been itching to get back into the action, but we have had to make sure his finger is okay," said Sean Lineen, the backs' coach. "Now he is getting his chance."
Sam Pinder's selection is one of three personnel and two positional changes from the side that suffered a 26-10 defeat at Munster last week, with Sean suggesting that the constant changes are being made partly due to injury and partly as tactical considerations. "It is a case of picking the horses for courses," he said. "Last week's display against Munster was very disappointing, we lost the contact battle and made far too many mistakes.
"We've worked hard on the basics this week and also on getting the players motivated for what is a very big game. The Irish sides are very strong and they get stuck in. But that's something we have to combat and the changes we've made will, we hope, address that situation."
A win against Leinster will hoist them one place above the under-achieving Irish side who are unchanged XV after their 26-21 victory against Borders at Netherdale last week. "They are on a roll and we will have to perform to beat them," said Sean. "We have a good home record, but we do not have a divine right to win at Hughenden."
I received another bulletin from the Glasgow supporters following Scotland down under.
"G'Day It's 4am in Cairns on Friday morning and the Scotland supporters are about to fly back to Sydney for the Fiji match. We're all still thinking positively but Oz TV is already talking about the Oz Fiji quarter final. Went to BBQ with team on Sunday night. All the Glasgow boys were there. We thought it might have been a bit of an ordeal but it turned out to be a really good night. Hopefully the bus load of well refreshed Scots gave them the boost they needed. Since then we've been to the Great Barrier Reef which lived up to its reputation. Team selection for tomorrow caused some discussion but Kenny Logan's mum and Bruce Douglas' mum and dad who are with us were well pleased."