Champions Cup: Leinster v Racing 92, Aviva Stadium, Saturday, 3.15pm – Live on RTÉ 2, & BT Sport
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has made three changes to the team that crushed Gloucester at Kingsholm for their final pool assignment against a Racing 92 side that required a 77th-minute penalty from Nolann Le Garrec last Sunday to pip Harlequins 30-29 in a bizarre endgame.
The Leinster backline remains intact as Rónan Kelleher, Joe McCarthy and Jack Conan are drafted in to freshen up the pack, with Caelan Doris switching from number eight to blindside flanker.
The deposed trio of Dan Sheehan, Ross Molony and Ryan Baird are included among the replacements, a bench that has a six-two orientation with flanker Scott Penny wearing the number 23 jersey. Luke McGrath, making his 50th appearance in Europe, returns to the matchday 23 after injury and along with Harry Byrne will act as backline cover.
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Racing 92′s Laurent Travers has made nine changes to the starting team with wing Christian Wade – he has scored six tries in previous matches against Leinster between Racing and Wasps – centre Olivier Klemenczak and wing Louis Dupichot restored to the backline.
There are only two survivors in the pack, Baptiste Chouzenoux, who moves from flanker to the secondrow, and Boris Palu, who will partner him in the engine room. It’s worth noting that the French visitors retain only six of the starting team from the opening match in the pool when Leinster visited Le Havre.
The Irish province won 42-10 that day scoring six tries but four came during two periods when Racing were a man light following yellow cards for Camille Chat and Le Garrec. The French side have opted for a lightweight back five, while the addition of Kelleher and McCarthy in the pack will provide the home side with greater scrum ballast. It’s an area in which Leinster struggled a little last week against Gloucester and in terms of defending the lineout maul, a frailty that saw them cough up two penalty tries and a brace of yellow cards in a punitive double whammy from a disciplinary perspective.
Jamie Osborne will be looking to cap a momentous week that started with his try-scoring, man of the match display at Kingsholm, followed by a call-up to Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad for the Six Nations, with a further example of his innate talent at the Aviva Stadium.
Robbie Henshaw’s extended period on the sidelines following wrist surgery and Bundee Aki’s continued exile from the Connacht team mean that Osborne and Stuart McCloskey – he is back in the Ulster team for the game against Sale Sharks – are vying for the vacant position alongside Garry Ringrose in the midfield for Ireland’s opening match of the Six Nations against Wales in Cardiff.
Leinster’s mantra on these occasions is that the team’s primary focus is on producing a performance that properly represents their goals and objectives for the 80 minutes on the pitch and that everything else is an ancillary concern.
There might be one or two Racing players hoping to catch the eye of Stuart Lancaster, who will take over the Parisian club during the summer, but that will only happen as part of a cohesive team effort. The visitors have the attacking chops to cause a few problems for Leinster, but anything other than a bonus-point victory for the home side would be a major surprise.
LEINSTER: H Keenan; J Larmour, G Ringrose (capt), J Osborne, J O’Brien; R Byrne, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, R Kelleher, M Ala’alatoa; J Ryan, J McCarthy; C Doris, J van der Flier, J Conan.
Replacements: D Sheehan, M Milne, C Healy, R Molony, R Baird, L McGrath, H Byrne, S Penny.
RACING 92: W Gelant; C Wade, O Klemenczak, G Fickou (capt), L Dupichot; F Russell, N Le Garrec; E Ben Arous, J Tarrit, T Nyakane; B Chouzenoux, B Palu; W Lauret, M Coulibaly, K Kamikamica.
Replacements: P Narisia, G Gogichashvili, G Kharaishvili, A Hemery, M Baudonne, A Gibert, F Saili, M Spring.
Referee: M Carley (England).
