Sharks v Leinster
Kings Park (5.15pm, live on RTÉ 2, Premier Sports)
There is no “Hitchcockian twist”, no subterfuge, no suspense to a Leinster team that shows eight changes to the starting team that had their pockets picked 21-20 by the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld last weekend.
Leo Cullen had been coy about the “comings and goings” of players and coaches earlier in the week with a view to preparing for the province’s Champions Cup match against Harlequins at Croke Park next Saturday. Jordie Barett, RG Snyman, Rabah Slimani and Jack Boyle are presumably back in Dublin at this point, some of the coaching cohort too, one suspects.
What Leinster’s head coach has done is promoted the bulk of the bench from last week which means that tight head prop Thomas Clarkson, secondrow Brian Deeny, flanker Alex Soroka, scrumhalf Fintan Gunne and outhalf Ciarán Frawley start. There is a new midfield partnership in Liam Turner and Charlie Tector, who replace Barrett and Hugh Cooney.
Gunne, who will make his first start after 11 appearances as a replacement, partners Frawley at halfback in place of Luke McGrath and Ross Byrne. The newly-arrived Cian Healy starts at loose head prop. Hooker John McKee, secondrow Diarmuid Mangan, last week’s man-of-the-match Will Connors and today’s captain Max Deegan (who switches from blindside flanker to number eight) are the survivors from last week’s pack.
Michael Milne and Lee Barron, who will join Munster in the summer, are new faces on the bench, so too Rory McGuire, Oliver Coffey, Henry McErlean and the 6’10″ Alan Spicer, happily recovered from an injury that saw him miss the entire recent Under-20 Six Nations, having played at that age grade the previous year. He was a big loss in every sense.
Spicer, who only turned 20 last month and is set to make his Leinster debut, has a big frame that he must learn to use to best effect, but what is already evident is that he possesses excellent handling skills and flickers of astute game intelligence in the lines that he runs. He’s got the backing of the coaches.
Tector has been a revelation since switching to centre, Frawley needs to see out a game at outhalf and play to the high level of which he is capable, while Jimmy O’Brien and Tommy O’Brien are playing for a place potentially in next week’s European tie. There’s a plotline for everyone.
Sharks head coach John Plumtree has made two personnel changes and two positional switches from the run-on team that squeezed past Zebre 35-34 in Durban last weekend. Flanker James Venter and former Harlequins centre Andre Esterhuizen both start after featuring off the bench last week.
Venter replaces Phepsi Buthelezi, while Esterhuizen is part of a rejig of the backline which sees Ethan Hooker switch from centre to wing as Yaw Penxe moves from the right wing to take over from the injured Henry Immelman at fullback.
Jason Jenkins is familiar to the visitors having previously played with Leinster. He offered an insight into what his side will take into this match having watched the Bulls dominate the Irish province in the scrum last week.
“We saw (from the Bulls game) how important it is to control the physical side of the game, and to make the breakdowns slower, as well as the scrums and mauls. The scrum won the game for them (Bulls) at the end, so that’s a real focus point for us. We have real confidence in our pack to bring that, definitely a point where we feel we can attack them. For us as a pack we really want to impose that physical element on them.”
The powerful presence of an all Springbok frontrow Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Vincent Koch, and the athletic ability of Vincent Tshituka and captain Siya Kolisi underline the size of the challenge that Leinster face up front.
The Hendrikse brothers, Jaden and Jordan, will be hoping the unleash a backline that’s long on physicality and pace, both attributes which Springbok wing, the combative Makazole Mapimpi has in abundance.
Leinster know what’s coming, a full-on assault in the set piece and the breakdown; doing something about it is the tricky part. The visitors have to play with courage but also with shape and precision. The Sharks are 10-point favourites and that feels about right.
Sharks: Y Penxe; E Hooker, J Julius, A Esterhuizen, M Mapimpi; Jordan Hendrikse, Jaden Hendrikse; O Nche, B Mbonambi, V Koch; J Jenkins, E van Heerden; J Venter, V Tshituka, S Kolisi (capt). Replacements: F Mbatha, N Mchunu, R Dreyer, C Rahl, M Tshituka, B Davids, S Masuku, F Venter.
Leinster: J O’Brien; T O’Brien, L Turner, C Tector, A Osborne; C Frawley, F Gunne; C Healy, J McKee, T Clarkson; D Mangan, B Deeny; A Soroka, W Connors, M Deegan. Replacements: L Barron, M Milne, R McGuire, A Spicer, S Penny, O Coffey, R Byrne, H McErlean.
Referee: B Breakspear (Wales)
