After taking down defending champions La Rochelle last weekend, Leinster will be keen to make it two from two in their final home game of 2023.

Judging by the weakened Sale starting XV, they might just be happy to keep the score to a respectable level.

Kick-off is at 5.30pm and fast approaching.

TEAM NEWS: After wrapping up last week’s win in such breathtaking fashion, Ciaran Frawley makes his first European start at 10 for Leinster.

Thomas Clarkson also makes his Champions Cup debut for Leo Cullen’s men. 

Leinster

• 15. Hugo Keenan
• 14. Jordan Larmour
• 13. Garry Ringrose (co-captain)
• 12. Robbie Henshaw
• 11. Jimmy O’Brien
• 10. Ciarán Frawley
• 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

• 1. Andrew Porter
• 2. Dan Sheehan
• 3. Thomas Clarkson
• 4. Jason Jenkins
• 5. James Ryan (co-captain)
• 6. Ryan Baird
• 7. Josh van der Flier
• 8. Caelan Doris

Replacements:

• 16. Rónan Kelleher
• 17. Cian Healy
• 18. Michael Ala’alatoa
• 19. Joe McCarthy
• 20. Jack Conan
• 21. Ben Murphy
• 22. Sam Prendergast
• 23. Charlie Ngatai

TEAM NEWS: Sale retain just four of the players who beat Stade Francais last weekend, and really, it’d nearly take as long to list the big names who won’t feature this evening as it would to list their starting XV.

Sale Sharks

• 15. Telusa Veainu
• 14. Tom Roebuck
• 13. Connor Doherty
• 12. Sam Bedlow
• 11. Arron Reed
• 10. Rob du Preez
• 9. Raffi Quirke

• 1. Ross Harrison
• 2. Tommy Taylor
• 3. James Harper
• 4. Ben Bamber
• 5. Josh Beaumont
• 6. Ernst van Rhyn
• 7. Sam Dugdale
• 8. Rouban Birch

Replacements:  

• 16. Ethan Caine
• 17. Tumy Onasanya
• 18. Asher Opoku-Fordjour
• 19. Jonny Hill
• 20. JL du Preez
• 21. Nye Thomas
• 22. Tom Curtis
• 23. Joe Carpenter

Before we start, a minute’s applause for the late Syd Millar, and also for the late James Furlong, father of James.

KICK OFF: Rob du Preez gets us underway at the RDS.

1 min – Leinster 0-0 Sale Sharks: Tom Roebuck tries a little grubber in behind and it bobbles into touch inside the 22. Leinster will have to be sharp on their own lineout throw straight away — which they are.

3 mins — Leinster 0-0 Sale Sharks: Here come Sale again. Arron Reed makes a break down the left after some nice backline play through the hands; Jimmy O’Brien makes the tackle. Sale come again but as they get close to the line, Connor Doherty spills it.

They’ve started with intent.

4 mins — Leinster 0-0 Sale Sharks: A break in play here as Pierre Brousset wants to see if Robbie Henshaw tackled Telusa Veainu off the ball as he went to gather that pass from Doherty. He’s taking a long look…

4 mins — YELLOW CARD! Henshaw is adjudged to have pulled Veainu’s arm as he went to gather the ball. He’s off to the bin, and Sale have a tap-over penalty.

4 mins — PENALTY! Leinster 0-3 Sale Sharks: Du Preez taps it over and Sale have the opening points of the evening.

7 mins — Leinster 0-3 Sale Sharks: Leinster lay down a marker at the scrum as Porter has the upper hand against James Harper. Frawley kicks it to the corner.

8 mins — Leinster 0-3 Sale Sharks: Leinster hammer away at the line but there’s a penalty advantage being played for a Sale offside. We go again…

9 mins – Josh van der Flier buries his way over to score, but we’re going upstairs to review this for a possible knock on.

10 mins — NO TRY! Leinster 0-3 Sale Sharks: After review, it’s ruled out for a knock-on by Ryan Baird in the build-up. Leinster took the tap penalty and although Baird spilled the ball as he carried into contact, it looked initially as though he may have fumbled it backwards. A phase or two later, van der Flier got low and forced his way through a bundle of bodies — but ultimately, it’s to no avail.

12 mins — Leinster 0-3 Sale Sharks: Another huge Leinster scrum inside the Sale 22, and this time, it’s the debutant Thomas Clarkson who takes all the plaudits for winning the scrum penalty.

13 mins — Leinster 0-3 Sale Sharks: Leinster take the quick tap again, and this time, they have plenty of power to drive Baird over the line — but some great Sale defence holds him up before he can get to ground and score. Goalline drop-out.

14 mins — Leinster 0-3 Sale Sharks: Sale are pinged again for not rolling away, and there’s a warning now from Pierre Brousset. It’s just outside the 22, and pretty much dead centre, and they’ll take the points this time.

15 mins — PENALTY! Leinster 3-3 Sale Sharks: No mistake from Frawley as he draws Leinster level.

16 mins – Robbie Henshaw spills the ball in the tackle, and it’ll be Sale’s put-in to the scrum in midfield.

17 mins – Leinster 3-3 Sale Sharks: An interesting point of note: when Pierre Brousset was giving Rob du Preez a warning a few minutes ago, James Ryan approached, only to be told by the referee that he would only be dealing with Garry Ringrose. Whether that’s because he dealt with Ringrose regarding the Henshaw yellow at the start of the game, or because of some other reason, is not especially clear at the moment.

18 mins — PENALTY! Leinster 3-6 Sale Sharks: Caelan Doris is pinged for offside, and du Preez slots the penalty. Sale are back in front.

22 mins — Leinster 3-6 Sale Sharks: Raffi Quirke snipes off the edge of a ruck, James Ryan makes the tackle, and Dan Sheehan is right on cue to pounce for the turnover penalty.

24 mins — Leinster 3-6 Sale Sharks: Leinster’s lineout isn’t straight, and then from the resulting scrum, a huge shove from Sale. Leinster collapse, and the penalty is greeted by Sale as if it was a try.

25 mins — TRY FOR SALE! Leinster 3-13 Sale Sharks 

That is quite beautiful from Sale who pick the lock of Leinster’s defence and run in the game’s opening try.

It starts with a beautiful grubber from Quirke from the base of a ruck. It bounces up nicely for du Preez, and when he looks left, Doherty is right there on his shoulder.

The centre has the legs to outpace the chasing Leinster defenders and he dives in under the posts.

Du Preez converts and Sale are 10 points up. Remarkable.

28 mins – A reminder that after Sale named their team yesterday, Leinster were favourites by as much as 29 points in some places. That certainly hasn’t been the story of this first half so far.

29 mins — Leinster 3-13 Sale Sharks: Leinster definitely have the upper hand in the scrum, and again, Harper can’t handle the pressure from Porter, and again, it’s a Leinster penalty.

This one’s a bit closer to the 10m line than it is to the 22, but Frawley will take his chance anyway.

31 mins — PENALTY! Leinster 6-13 Sale Sharks: No mistake from Frawley; Leinster close the gap a little.

33 mins — Leinster 6-13 Sale Sharks: Du Preez hangs up a big crossfield kick to try to find Roebuck out on his own on the right wing, but Hugo Keenan is alive to the danger and takes it as a mark with minimum of fuss.

35 mins — Leinster 6-13 Sale Sharks: Great work by Robbie Henshaw who holds up Sale until a maul is called, and then makes enough of a nuisance of himself that they can’t use the ball. Every turnover is an important one as Leinster try to get a foothold.

37 mins — YELLOW CARD! Leinster 6-13 Sale Sharks: Another scrum, another Leinster penalty — and James Harper had been warned by Pierre Brousset. He’s off to the bin.

38 mins — Leinster 6-13 Sale Sharks: A break in play here so that Jason Jenkins can receive some medical attention.

39 mins — Leinster 6-13 Sale Sharks: Leinster come forward and Frawley picks a few very nice passes to get Leinster into good spaces — first to Jimmy O’Brien, taking out three Sale defenders, and then to Dan Sheehan, who drives close to the line.

Gibson-Park flings a long, looping pass out to Baird, who has Larmour in support, but he’s taken out by a high tackle. Penalty.

40 mins — TRY FOR LEINSTER! Leinster 11-13 Sale Sharks

Van der Flier scores for Leinster — and after a fairly underwhelming first half, they’ll go in just two points in arrears. 

It’s an easy call for Leinster to kick the penalty to the corner, they secure possession from the lineout, and Van der Flier powers over in the corner.

The conversion’s a tricky one for Frawley, who starts it just outside the right post and tries to let it curl back in, but it stays right.

That’ll be it for the first half.

HALF TIME: Leinster 11-13 Sale Sharks

Back in five.

SECOND HALF: Ciaran Frawley gets us back underway. Joe McCarthy is on in the Leinster second row in place of Jason Jenkins.

43 mins — TRY FOR LEINSTER! Leinster 16-13 Sale Sharks

Electric start to the second half by Leinster, and this one is all about Jamison Gibson-Park and Josh van der Flier. Gibson-Park tried a long, looping pass at the end of the first half, and he repeats the trick here. Van der Flier sharply cuts back inside and leaves Roebuck on his backside, and Gibson-Park is there as the first supporting runner. He still has work to do, but has the legs to get to the corner and touch down.

It’s a tricky conversion for Frawley, and it’s off target. Leinster lead for the first time.

44 mins – Another Leinster change as Michael Ala’alatoa comes on to replace debutant Thomas Clarkson.

48 mins — Leinster 16-13 Sale Sharks: It’s one of the Sale replacements, prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour, who makes a big impact at his first scrum. Penalty to the visitors!

49 mins — Leinster 16-13 Sale Sharks: Leinster are offside at the breakdown, and Sale kick to the corner. Lineout five metres out — but it’s disrupted by Ryan Baird and the loose ball is snaffled by Caelan Doris.

52 mins — Leinster 16-13 Sale Sharks: Du Preez hangs up a Garryowen, but it comes backwards off Keenan and into the arms of Garry Ringrose. Frawley kicks into Sale territory, but then Jonny Hill is pinged for indiscipline off the ball as he tussled with Van der Flier. Needless stuff.

54 mins — Leinster 16-13 Sale Sharks: Leinster go through the phases inside the Sale 22…

55 mins – Advantage playing to Leinster for an offside practically on the line…

55 mins – Frawley floats a very ambitious pass, and it’s picked off. Back for the penalty.

56 mins — Leinster 16-13 Sale Sharks: Leinster kick it to the corner, as Charlie Ngatai comes on to replace Jordan Larmour — Ngatai into midfield and Ringrose to the wing, it seems.

57 mins — TRY FOR LEINSTER! Leinster 23-13 Sale Sharks

Leinster rely on their power, and it’s Robbie Henshaw who finishes it off. Big carry from Dan Sheehan who peels off the back of the maul to bring them to within a few feet of the line, and then Henshaw runs over Ernst van Rhyn to score.

Van Rhyn took a bad knock there, and is gone off for a HIA.

Frawley converts and Leinster have a 10-point cushion now as they chase their fourth try and a bonus point.

60 mins — Leinster 23-13 Sale Sharks: Super linebreak by Ryan, who finds Frawley in support, but he can’t quite wriggle free of the tackle of Joe Carpenter — and then Gibson-Park uncharacteristically spills it forward as he looks to play it quickly from the base of the ruck.

62 mins — TRY FOR LEINSTER! Leinster 30-13 Sale Sharks

Ryan Baird applies the finishing touches for Leinster’s bonus-point try — but a word for Charlie Ngatai whose fingerprints are all over the build-up. Twice in quick succession, he’s at the axis of the move, first popping the ball off to Robbie Henshaw, and then to Hugo Keenan.

Keenan stumbles just short of the line, but on the very next phase, it’s a simple finish for Baird.

Frawley converts and Leinster are motoring now.

65 mins — Leinster 30-13 Sale Sharks: Sale come roaring back down the pitch through a brilliant break from Joe Carpenter. In a flash, they’re within five metres of the Leinster line.

66 mins – With advantage being played, Carpenter tries the crossfield kick where Reed is up against Keenan but he can’t quite gather it. Back for the penalty.

67 mins — Leinster 30-13 Sale Sharks: Sale go to touch and try to maul the lineout over for a try, but Leinster hold them up. Goalline drop-out.

69 mins — Leinster 30-13 Sale Sharks: Sam Prendergast is on for his European debut, and his first involvement is to chip a nicely-weighted kick in behind for Keenan to chase. Roebuck just about gets there first to snuff out the danger.

70 mins – Leinster 30-13 Sale Sharks: Another Leinster change as Gibson-Park goes off, and Ben Murphy gets his chance for the last 10 minutes plus change.

70 mins — TRY FOR LEINSTER! Leinster 37-13 Sale Sharks

Cian Healy scores! Great carrying by Joe McCarthy in the build-up, and as Leinster sniff the score, Murphy’s pass bounces off Doris and into the hands of Healy, who dives over to score.

He’s made to wait for a moment as Pierre Brousset checks for a potential neck roll by Michael Ala’alatoa on Tommy Taylor, but the referee is happy that it’s legal.

Prendergast kicks the conversion for his first European points, and this one is in the books.

77 mins – Another lovely break by Charlie Ngatai, who has really caught the eye since coming off the bench. He tries the offload but is judged to have lost it forward.

77 mins – Josh van der Flier is the Player of the Match.

78 mins — YELLOW CARD! Leinster 37-13 Sale Sharks: Hugo Keenan will finish out the game in the bin. Sale keep coming and as Reed tries to chase his own kick through, Keenan takes him out off the ball, shouldering him over the line and into touch. No arguments there.

78 mins – Charlie Ngatai is down needing treatment.

79 mins — TRY FOR SALE! Leinster 37-20 Sale Sharks

Sale maul over from the lineout, and it’s Taylor who grounds it. There’s a little bit of afters, with James Ryan central to it, before the referee restores order.

Du Preez converts.

80 mins – Worrying sight for Leinster here as Ngatai has to be carried off the pitch. It looks like it might be his knee.

80+1 mins — TRY FOR SALE! Leinster 37-27 Sale Sharks

Sale finish with a flourish, and it’s wing Arron Reed, who has been one of their most impressive performers today, who does brilliantly to create it. He keeps the ball alive, skips away down the wing, and then finds Tom Curtis in support to run it in under the posts.

Du Preez taps over the conversion, and Sale cut the final margin to 10.

FULL TIME: Leinster 37-27 Sale Sharks

Leinster weren’t at their best by any means this evening — and to their credit, Sale were far better than many expected, given their rotated line-up — but in the end, Leo Cullen’s side had enough to put the game to bed, take another five points, and back up last week’s win over La Rochelle.

At the end of it all, not a bad night’s work.

That’s all for now, but stay with us this evening as Ciarán Kennedy will have lots more reaction and analysis from the RDS.

Thanks for reading.