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Leinster make four Champions Cup changes for Toulon following their latest PRO14 title success
Freshly crowned Guinness PRO14 champions Leinster have made four changes to their XV following last Saturday’s league final win, promoting James Lowe, Johnny Sexton, Tadhg Furlong and Ryan Baird to their starting side that will face Toulon in the Heineken Champions Cup round of 16.
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All four were on the RDS bench for last weekend’s comfortable 16-6 win over Munster and while there was a doubt over Sexton’s availability after he took a bang to the nose and required a HIA, the skipper has been picked at out-half for a match where Leinster will look to make amends for last September’s European knockout stage slip-up.
Crowned PRO14 champions for the delayed 2019/20 season with a win over Ulster, the lack of intensity in that league decider was blamed for leaving Leinster undercooked when they were picked off the following week by Saracens in the Champions Cup quarter-finals.
Now they find themselves in a similar situation, taking on stellar European opposition in the guise of Toulon the week after their latest PRO14 title success. Dave Kearney, Ross Byrne, Andrew Porter and Scott Fardy all drop to the bench from the starting XV but Jamison Gibson-Park is marked absent from the bench after being chosen there last week.
Following the win over Munster, Leinster boss Leo Cullen said: “Winning can make you a little bit week, soft, whatever it is, and we need to ensure that doesn’t happen for us next week… we started off the season winning the PRO14 and then we lost the following week to Saracens. It’s important that we don’t make that same mistake again.
Familiar decade-old heartache for Munster, repetitive joy for Leinster. No wonder Leo Cullen sounded off about red-eyed pundits who had read the room completely wrong#LEIvMUN #PRO14https://t.co/j59Q3avugI
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 27, 2021
“Saracens came to the Aviva that day with a good plan but maybe we were a little off that day. It’s important that we’re not a little bit off when we turn up here next Friday. It’s that balance now, enjoy the moment here for a few hours, short turnaround and turn the page into Toulon because it is a massive challenge against a star-studded squad.”
LEINSTER: 15. Hugo Keenan; 14. Jordan Larmour, 13. Rory O’Loughlin, 12. Robbie Henshaw, 11. James Lowe; 10. Johnny Sexton (capt), 9. Luke McGrath; 1. Cian Healy, 2. Ronan Kelleher, 3. Tadhg Furlong, 4. Devin Toner, 5. Ryan Baird, 6. Rhys Ruddock, 7. Josh van der Flier, 8. Jack Conan. Rep: 16. James Tracy, 17. Ed Byrne, 18. Andrew Porter, 19. Ross Molony, 20. Scott Fardy, 21. Hugh O’Sullivan, 22. Ross Byrne, 23. Dave Kearney.
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TOULON: 15. Gervais Cordin; 14. Masivesi Dakuwaqa, 13. Rudi Wulf, 12. Julien Heriteau, 11. Gabin Villiere; 10. Duncan Paia’aua, 9. Baptiste Serin (capt); 1. Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2. Christopher Tolofua, 3. Beka Gigashvili, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 5. Romain Taofifenua, 6. Swan Rebbadj, 7. Charles Ollivon, 8. Sergio Parisse. Reps: 16. Bastien Soury, 17. Sebastien Taofifenua, 18. Emerick Setiano, 19. Raphael Lakafia, 20. Julien Ory, 21. Frederick du Plessis, 22. Anthony Meric, 23. Simon Moretti.
Outside centre and blindside the only two spots taken by players from outside Ireland #PRO14
https://t.co/Np0wvsVtuI— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 1, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to comments