Dan Sheehan, Tommy O’Brien and Scott Penny have all come into the Leinster starting XV to face the Glasgow Warriors in the semi-finals of the BKT URC on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 2.45pm, live on RTÉ2 and Premier Sports 1).
They are the only changes to Leinster’s starting XV from last weekend’s 33-21 win over Scarlets in the quarter-finals while Jimmy O’Brien shifts to fullback in the absence of Hugo Keenan, who joins fellow Lions Garry Ringrose, Josh van der Flier and Tadhg Furlong on the sidelines.
Rónan Kelleher moves to the bench where is joined by Jack Boyle and Rabah Slimani. It is a strong-looking replacements unit, with Max Deegan and RG Snyman also named as Leo Cullen reverts to a 5-3 split. Luke McGrath, Ciarán Frawley and the restored Ross Byrne are the backs named, with Byrne making his final appearance at Aviva Stadium for Leinster ahead of his move to Gloucester this summer after a decade of service.
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Fin Richardson and Adam Hastings have been called into the Glasgow Warriors starting XV, who are still missing two of their Lions quartet in Huw Jones and Xander Fagerson.
Van der Flier was withdrawn in the first half against the Scarlets with a tight hamstring and Cullen said “it’s come a little bit too soon” for both the flanker and Ringrose, who missed last week’s quarter-final with a calf injury.
“Hugo has picked up a [calf] niggle as well, so he’s out. We swapped the hookers as well, Dan and Ronan, listen there is quality there in both of them. And back to a 5-3 split as well. Again, it just a little bit around the personnel.
“Hugo, we didn’t think was that significant. He trained on Tuesday but then he started to flag. At that point Tommy was coming back into training, so we moved Jimmy to 15 and Tommy in on the wing. Listen Tommy has been excellent for the team all year, so I don’t think he drops the overall group in anyway.
“With the moving parts at the backs, obviously Josh dropping out as well, we’ve gone back to a 5-3 because Ciaran came on at 15 for Hugo at the weekend, and he can cover 12 and 15. Ross has been excellent all year for us as well.
“I know he finishes up at the end of the season, we’ve got him back in the mix in these games. I don’t know was the fact that there was a penalty shoot-out in one of the games last week, does that play on our minds as well, stacking the bench with kickers?” Cullen wondered aloud with a chuckle.
“It is a possibility, it is definitely something that needs to be considered. Overall Ross has been excellent all year, he’s been unlucky to miss out on some of the games the last few weeks because we’d opted to have a 6-2 split prior to that. I think both teams are probably missing a few players, that’s just the nature of the season, we think there is a good group and we’re excited to get going again.
Were Leinster to dethrone the champions and reach their first URC final in four seasons, it’s conceivable that one, two, or all of Keenan, Ringrose and Van der Flier could come back into the mix, although that will not be the case with Furlong (calf), Caelan Doris (shoulder), Robbie Henshaw (knee) and Will Connors (shoulder).
“So, yeah, the last four teams, the reigning champions, they won away last year in Limerick in a semi and went away to win a final. They won’t be afraid, you saw them at the weekend against Stormers,” said Cullen in reference to the Warriors’ 36-18 quarter-final win.
“They have that slogan, ‘whatever it takes’, so they certainly push the boundaries. The penalty count was 17 or 18 to four [in favour of the Stormers]. We know they’ll be hard to handle, tough to play against.”
LEINSTER: Jimmy O’Brien; Tommy O’Brien, Jamie Osborne, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Ryan Baird, Scott Penny, Jack Conan (capt).
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Ciarán Frawley.
GLASGOW WARRIORS: Josh McKay; Kyle Steyn (capt), Sione Tuipulotu, Tom Jordan, Kyle Rowe; Adam Hastings, George Horne; Jamie Bhatti, Gregor Hiddleston, Fin Richardson; Alex Samuel, Scott Cummings; Euan Ferrie, Rory Darge, Henco Venter.
Replacements: Johnny Matthews, Rory Sutherland, Sam Talakai, Max Williamson, Jack Mann, Macenzzie Duncan, Stafford McDowall, Jamie Dobie.
