LUKE MCGRATH IS set to recover from the ankle injury that kept him out of Leinster’s Champions Cup semi-final victory over the Scarlets, meaning James Lowe is likely to return on the left wing for the final against Racing 92 on Saturday in Bilbao.
The popular Kiwi wing missed out on the semi-final due to Leinster being able to pick only two of Lowe, Scott Fardy and Jamison Gibson-Park in their matchday squads because of EPCR’s rule around ‘non-European players’.
With McGrath out of action, Leinster needed Gibson-Park to start and Lowe was unlucky to be omitted.
With Lowe set to come back on the left wing for the clash with Racing, it looks likely that the experienced and versatile Isa Nacewa will move to the right, with Rob Kearney completing the back three.
Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose are set to lineout in midfield again, while Johnny Sexton will wear the 10 shirt for Leinster.
Up front, Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster are likely to back the same starting pack that has overcome Saracens and the Scarlets so far in the knock-out stages.
That would mean Cian Healy, Sean Cronin and Tadhg Furlong in the front row and James Ryan and Devin Toner combining in the second row.
Fardy, Dan Leavy and Jordi Murphy are set to continue as the back row trio, while the return to fitness of Rhys Ruddock should see him included on the Leinster bench alongside Jack Conan.
Best known as a flanker, Ruddock would also provide second row cover from the bench, although the presence of Fardy in the back row also offers another option should one of the starting locks need to be replaced.
With Gibson-Park set to be the unlucky player to miss out on account of the limit to two ‘non-European players,’ Nick McCarthy is likely to be included on the bench too.
Possible Leinster team v Racing:
15. Rob Kearney
14. Isa Nacewa
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Robbie Henshaw
11. James Lowe
10. Johnny Sexton
9. Luke McGrath
1. Cian Healy
2. Seán Cronin
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Devin Toner
5. James Ryan
6. Scott Fardy
7. Dan Leavy
8. Jordi Murphy
Replacements:
16. James Tracy
17. Jack McGrath
18. Andrew Porter
19. Rhys Ruddock
20. Jack Conan
21. Nick McCarthy
22. Joey Carbery
23. Jordan Larmour
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Lowe vs. Teddy Thomas on the wing will be worth watching alone, never mind the match itself.
Whup whup, let’s do this!
Signing of the season in my book. boy, do Leinster need him.
@Gavin Mitchell: Signing of the season has been Fardy, without question.
Though Lowe is a pretty fantastic player to have, hopefully, long term.
@Gavin Mitchell: On the other side of things, it is a real pity Jordi Murphy is leaving. He’s the starting #8 in a European Cup Final heading into the prime of his career. The landscape has changed so much since he made the decision to leave; Heaslip retired, SOB surgery, JVDF out for the season, coaching changes in Ulster and possibly no European rugby in Belfast. Even if SOB and JVDF return, Murphy is in possession of a starting jersey and deserves to be there. Leinster are going to miss Murphy. He’s a valuable club player.
@grandslamkbo: valuable player for Ireland as well.
@Rollander: Schmidt is definitely a fan. Always has been. I hope he doesn’t regress in Ulster as part of poor pack regularly humiliated in Europe.
@grandslamkbo: hopefully Jordi is a good addiction to that pack. Any other new signings there in their pack for next season?
Given recent results against Treviso and Connacht, I think the first 15 picks itself
@Brian Hughes: great profile pic
Excellent news, Lowe is brilliant and we’ve really missed McGrath.
I think it’s an error going with someone who’s so irresponsible in defense on the wing in such a big game. I do see what he brings to the camp though and what an asset he is. The stars are aligning nicely for Leinster, Machenaud and scharevski out, McGrath, henshaw and ruddock fit, Barnes reffing ( his structured style will suit Leinster more so than racing) and now even the weather will suit Leinster. I stand by my prediction from last week, Leinster by 15-20 points. Hopefully I’m right.
@Jim Demps: who would you put in instead ?? Adam Byrne , Barry Daly? Larmour ? They’re similar to Lowe defensively , as in they’re not the finished article yet . I’m just glad Noel Reid’s defence is not gonna be tested on Saturday
@Jim Demps: Lowe was good defensively against Saracens. He will be grand
@William Finnegan: he was terrible defensively against Connacht. I’d have gone for larmour. Just as exciting and even though he has had his issues in defense, I think he has a better understanding of what he’s meant to be doing out there.
@Jim Demps: everyone was terrible against connacht. I wouldn’t use that game as a guide as they out fought and overran us on every inch of that pitch
@William Finnegan: he’s done it in plenty of games this year. Glasgow in the champions cup is another example.
@Jim Demps: and he has also played brilliantly in plenty of games. He has way more good games than bad. I’m sure most Leinster fans would rather have him in the team than out. So much so that they were asking for a novice scrum halfs to start and be on the bench for a champions cup semi final.
@Jim Demps: it’s much easier to defend with Henshaw and ringrose on your inside
@Chris Mc: yeah you’re right about that. I hope he goes well on Saturday. He’s certainly got the talent.
Lads, Lowe’s defense has improved a lot. However, the one guy that doesn’t get nearly as much credit as he deserves is Leinsters top try scorer: Barry Daly. Absolute speedster, 13 tries this season and no obvious weakness that sticks out.
@Jim Demps: Lowe has improved his defence in the past couple of months imo. Also he’s the most prolific try scorer of the other options. I don’t think many people will have issue with the choice. Be interesting to see how it plays out though. One to watch.
@Rudiger McMonihan: agreed. I think next season is going to be his real surge into the first XV
Be hard to beat that team if the heads are right.
@Pilib: It’s supposed to be 14 degrees and raining on Saturday so at least the heat won’t affect them
Exactly how I predicted the 15. Glad we see eye to eye on this one, Murray.
Devin toner doesn’t even make the bench?
@Gary Brennan: They have him down to start Gary.
@Darach Malone: Leaving that point aside, I still think Toner should have made the bench.
@Camroc: He’s a rugby player,not a carpenter.
I don’t fully get the rule. Why isn’t Isa counted as one of the non European players? And surely the French clubs have half of their teams full of non European players? I may be missing something obvious here…
@Len Brennan: IIRC Isa is an Irish citizen now.
@Len Brennan: Isa played for Fiji. Fiji is excluded. The rule really only applies to Aussies and Kiwis unless they’ve completed a certain number of years in Europe.
@grandslamkbo: Talk about disrespect to Fiji! They were ninth in the world last November. Ireland were in that position only five years ago
@Conor Alexander Lynott: how is that disrespect? You can have as many South Africans or Pacific Islanders (don’t know about argentina). It has nothing to do with rugby ranking and everything to do with the deals the EU has done with their countries. I’m assuming the champions cup would limit all non-euros but EU employment law forbids it.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: Hard to know if you’re joking or serious.
@Rudiger McMonihan: It’s disrespectful because this eligibility rule is what stops top nations from having a free reign on each others players. When this rule doesn’t apply to Fiji, they can do nothing to NZARUSA from robbing players. Their national team is hindered as a result, more so than other nations.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: Actually it gives Fijian players a chance to go and play elsewhere and have a successful rugby career.
@Sam Harms: Actually, applying the same rule to Fiji would go a long way to creating a Fijian team environment where there is a chance to be successful, meaning less players go abroad.
@Len Brennan: it’s a geopolitical reference really, it’s to do with passportin rights and other stuff that sounds like it’s from a documentary on Brexit. Isa gets around it as he played for Fiji. I think players from the NZ SA and Australian nations are the ones who are restricted.
Is this correct? Somebody feel free to correct/improve upon this answer.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: But the point is that they have to go abroad, Fiji is nowhere near big enough for them to get the experience they need to compete in test rugby.
@SPQH: oh, I answered without seeing a load of other replies already, please ignore!
@Sam Harms: My point is that the situation you’re describing would be rectified in the long term if Fiji were treated equally by applying the same rule. Businesses won’t invest in franchises unless they see enough national interest.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: The rule gives Fijian players the chance to go abroad and play club rugby with whoever they want and get experience while still being able to represent their national team. If they want to play for a different national team the 5 year residency rule still applies.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: You’re totally misinterpreting the rule and jumping to ridiculous conclusions. It’s an EU regulation about the free movement of workers. Fiji are not being disrespected and they are being treated equally. And it has absolutely no impact on Fijiian players going to NZ or Australia.
@Eddie Hekenui: pretty sure the Fijians don’t see the opportunity of leaving a fairly poor country to go earn a massive amount of money to support their families as disrespectful either!
@Sam Harms: Yea treating people as equals and giving them the opportunity to work abroad is so disrespectful.
@Martin Quinn: It’s not condescending because Conor is jumping to ridiculous conclusions. As for Sam we’re agreeing with each other so how am I talking down to her?
And I’ll speak how I like and I don’t really think you’re in a position to comment given some of your posts. Like “Get on your plane and Piss off away” and “And you are a fool and a troll”.
@Martin Quinn: Look Martin I’ll post what I like when I like and I don’t care if you find my comments condescending so you can stop commenting under all my posts. And frankly you’re in no position to criticise anyone for their comments. Maybe I would if you weren’t so rude and condescending yourself.
“Do you know that all your posts have no Rugby merit ::you see to post something about Rugby you need to have some non-bias knowledge of the game.”
Or “I know this is hard to understand BB but read the article and LEARN”
Or “Adam Byrne had a fine game and to suggest that when he went into centre Irelands fortunes changed is ridicules”
Or “it means that you are NOT some supercilious arrogant poster and that what you tell us is always RIGHT , when in fact it is his lowly opinion Then you insert IMO”
And that’s just a snippet. Far more condescending than anything I’ve ever posted and doing a lot more talking down.
With Ferg out as well the timing just couldn’t be more crucial. This Lowe fella is a dynamic force and I had my doubts about his defense, but it has been improving as well, so far not at the expense of attacking ability and innovation.
@SPQH: The attaching ability and innovation more than make up for any defensive weakness, some of the moves he’s made have been ridiculous!