Hugo Keenan to make long-awaited return as Leinster recall 5 Ireland stars

Hugo Keenan is set to play his first match since scoring the series-winning try for the British and Irish Lions against Australia in August when Leinster face United Rugby Championship leaders Glasgow Warriors on Saturday.

The full-back had been sidelined with a hip injury for the first half of the season, before a fractured thumb prevented him from taking part in Ireland’s Guinness Six Nations campaign.

He will start at Scotstoun in a squad that features five players who represented Andy Farrell’s Ireland over the past six weeks. Of those five, hooker Ronan Kelleher, prop Thomas Clarkson, flanker Jack Conan and fly-half Sam Prendergast will all start, while Ciaran Frawley will feature from the bench.

There is a further sprinkling of Ireland internationals across the squad who did not feature in the Six Nations, while seasoned internationals RG Snyman and Rieko Ioane are both in the XV.

Glasgow have also opted to rest a large bulk of their Scotland stars who featured heavily during the Six Nations, with Franco Smith opting to hand out a debut to 20-year-old Johnny Ventisei in the midfield.

Fixture

United Rugby Championship

Glasgow

38 - 17

Full-time

Leinster

All Stats and Data

Glasgow Warriors XV: 1 Patrick Schickerling (20), 2 Gregor Hiddleston (40), 3 Fin Richardson (12), 4 Alex Craig (14), 5 Alex Samuel (48), 6 Euan Ferrie (50), 7 Sione Vailanu (37), 8 Macenzzie Duncan (11), 9 George Horne (151), 10 Dan Lancaster (14), 11 Ollie Smith (58), 12 Stafford McDowall (c) (109), 13 Johnny Ventisei (0), 14 Kyle Rowe (47), 15 Josh McKay (73)
Replacements: 16 Seb Stephen (12), 17 Rory Sutherland (21), 18 Sam Talakai (35), 19 Jare Oguntibeju (16), 20 Ally Miller (44), 21 Angus Fraser (25), 22 Jack Oliver (3), 23 Adam Hastings (83)

Leinster XV: 1 Alex Usanov (3), 2 Rónan Kelleher (87), 3 Thomas Clarkson (69), 4 RG Snyman (30), 5 Brian Deeny (47), 6 Jack Conan (171), 7 Will Connors (63), 8 James Culhane (23), 9 Luke McGrath (248) (c), 10 Sam Prendergast (43), 11 Jimmy O’Brien (111), 12 Robbie Henshaw (113), 13 Rieko Ioane (8), 14 Joshua Kenny (10), 15 Hugo Keenan (76)
Replacements: 16 John McKee (42), 17 Jerry Cahir (8), 18 Rabah Slimani (30), 19 Conor O’Tighearnaigh (7), 20 Max Deegan (150), 21 Scott Penny (99), 22 Fintan Gunne (27), 23 Ciarán Frawley (115)