Celebrated Ukrainian children's hospital fund-raiser chosen to start for Leinster

Leinster's highly-rated Ukrainian Alex Soroka will finally make his home starting debut, against Connacht at the Aviva this evening (5pm).It is only his fourth start in all and comes on the back of one in each of the last three seasons in places as far flung as Parma, Cape Town (where he was Man of the Match) and Pretoria.That middle-of-May 2023 Stormers game garnered worldwide headlines as 'Lexi' donned a Ukrainian flag to do the Man of the Match media - and he had every right to do so too.

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His 'fundraising for the Ukrainian effort' via a GoFundMe page in aid of Kyiv’s Okhmadits Children’s Hospital, the largest children’s hospital in the Ukraine and serving over 300,000 patients from birth to 18-years, had raised almost e65,000 at that point.

Soroka was born in Pearse Street, Dublin shortly after his parents’, Vassyl and Tanya and his older brother Ivan’s - all of whom were Kyiv-born - arrived in Dublin and he is an Ireland U20 international.

But his commitment to his family's homeland has gained him huge admiration albeit his on-field career has been hampered by a succession of injuries - limiting his game time to just under 300 on-field minutes from 11 appearances.

Leinster A vs Munster A - Alex Soroka in possession
(Image: ©INPHO/Ben Brady)

"We are usually excited to see Alex going," says Leinster boss Leo Cullen of putting him on the rugby frontline today.

"He works really hard and he has been insanely unlucky in terms of the injuries that he's accumulated over the last couple of years and since that game against the Stormers where he was Man of the Match and had the Ukrainian flag draped around him after the game."

Those who check the programme notes will have noticed Soroka has been a growing boy, now standing six-foot-five and coming in at just under 17 stone.

"He loves the line-out and with that in mind whether he will be a no6 that morphs into a second-row over time or whether he just stays at six, I'm not quite sure.

"Because of his speed into the air, his aerial ability, he's good on the edge so in terms of that no6 role, let's wait and see but that's his role as a player this week."

Soroka has waited patiently for this chance.

"Alex is one coming back from injury because he picked up an injury on the Emerging Ireland tour and he went really well out there in South Africa, then came back injured.

"So his next outing, I think, was in the A game against Munster in Terenure, he has featured for Clontarf and now he's going to feature at Leinster at no6.

"He's just been incredibly unlucky with injury so hopefully goes well but in terms of athleticism he's a great line-out option, really physical, very strong and in terms of athletic profile he is great. He's just been a bit bogged down with those few injuries, which lots of players have gone through in this period.

"The main thing is he's back, he's trained well, prepared well, for this game and hopefully goes well on the back of that.

"There is a good combination there, Jack (Conan) as captain in terms of dynamism, ball carrying, that's what we need again, Scott (Penny) in terms to be the traditional no7, a very good link player, so hopefully combination with the three of them will give us the right balance."

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