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All Black Rieko Ioane set for debut as Leinster roll out big guns
By Josh Raisey
All Blacks centre Rieko Ioane is set to make his Leinster debut on Saturday against Harlequins in their opening match of the Investec Champions Cup.
Fresh from his Quilter Nations Series with the All Blacks, the 28-year-old will join a host of Ireland internationals in the squad who missed last week’s United Rugby Championship victory over Dragons.
Leo Cullen and Jacques Nienaber opted to rest the bulk of their Ireland internationals for the trip to Wales, with Thomas Clarkson and Jimmy O’Brien being the only two to play who had featured in the November campaign.
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The pair will start again against Quins in a squad that looks vastly different. The team is as close to full-strength as possible with the players Leinster have at their disposal currently, only with Andrew Porter, James Lowe and Robbie Henshaw missing out.
Leinster will also be boosted by the return of Joe McCarthy, who will play his first match of the season after overcoming a foot injury. He will partner RG Snyman in the second-row, who played a starring role against Dragons last week.
Ioane will have to settle for the bench for his first Leinster appearance – a role controversially held by his All Blacks team-mate Jordie Barrett in Leinster’s last Champions Cup outing, a semi-final loss to Northampton Saints.
Leinster face a Gallagher PREM double-header over the next two weeks, travelling to take on Leicester Tigers following their contest with Harlequins.
Leinster XV (caps in brackets)
15. Jimmy O’Brien (107)
14. Tommy O’Brien (49)
13. Garry Ringrose (140)
12. Ciarán Frawley (108)
11. Jordan Larmour (116)
10. Sam Prendergast (37)
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (158)
1. Paddy McCarthy (10)
2. Dan Sheehan (74)
3. Thomas Clarkson (63)
4. RG Snyman (25)
5. Joe McCarthy (50)
6. Jack Conan (166)
7. Josh van der Flier (160)
8. Caelan Doris (94) (captain)
Replacements
16. Rónan Kelleher (81)
17. Jack Boyle (32)
18. Tadhg Furlong (156)
19. Diarmuid Mangan (20)
20. Max Deegan (141)
21. Luke McGrath (239)
22. Harry Byrne (76)
23. Rieko Ioane (0)
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