United Rugby Championship: Bulls v Leinster, Saturday, 3pm Irish time, Loftus Versfeld (Live on TG4 & Premier Sports)
Leinster acting head coach Seán O’Brien has made five changes from the side that beat the Lions 36-33 last weekend for the final fixture in the league stage of the United Rugby Championship.
The backline remains intact as a unit but there are five changes in the pack. Ed Byrne comes in at loosehead prop and takes over the captaincy from the injured Rhys Ruddock (hamstring), where he is joined by hooker Tadgh McElroy and Thomas Clarkson.
Michael Milne and Lee Barron drop to the bench where they are joined by tighthead Temi Lasisi who is involved for the first time this season. Alex Soroka replaces Jason Jenkins in the secondrow and will partner Brian Deeny, while 2022 Under-20 Six Nations player of the tournament and Grand Slam winner James Culhane is promoted to the backrow.
UCD student Conor O’Tighearnaigh, a double Grand Slam winner with the Irish 20s, and flanker Liam Molony, a member of Richie Murphy’s for this year’s Six Nations success, are set to make their respective Leinster senior debuts off the bench. Jenkins and Ruddock will be missed for their power and other qualities on both sides of the ball.
Murphy’s eldest son, Ben, made a pronounced impact off the bench at scrumhalf last week and is once again named among the replacements where he is joined by Charlie Tector (2022) and Rob Russell (2019) both of whom won Grand Slams with Ireland Under-20 teams.
The Bulls, fresh from an 11-try thumping of Zebre, are unchanged, head coach Jake White keeping faith in the matchday 23.
The home side came climb a couple of places in the table based on other results involving the Irish provinces, Munster and Connacht, improving their seeding for the knock-out stages of the tournament, while a victory would be beneficial in terms of qualifying for next season’s Heineken Champions Cup.
The Bulls are aware of how the Lions’ power game and direct running caused a young Leinster side all sorts of problems last week and are likely to borrow a little from that playbook, but in players like the brilliant Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie they possess twinkle-toed players capable of ripping sides asunder.
Sam Prendergast has been charged with following up his impressive debut last week with once again taking charge of Leinster’s game management, supported by the same young cast. Leinster demonstrated great resilience in clawing back a 15-point deficit in the final 20 minutes to sneak a win last week, but the Bulls are a better side than the Lions.
The Bulls are 10-point favourites with the bookies and unless Leinster’s tyros can produce a performance for the ages the province’s unbeaten record this season may come to an end.
BULLS: K-L Arendse; C Moodie, S Gans, H Vorster, D Kriel; J Goosen, E Papier; G Steenekamp, J Grobbelaar, M Smith; R Vermaak, R Nortje; M van Staden, C Brink, E Louw.
Replacements: B Du Plessis, D Smith, F Klopper, J Swanepoel, WJ Steenkamp, K Johannes, C Smith, C Hendriks.
LEINSTER: C Cosgrave; T O’Brien, L Turner, B Brownlee, D Kearney; S Prendergast, N McCarthy; E Byrne, T McElroy, T Clarkson; A Soroka, B Deeny; J Culhane, W Connors, M Deegan.
Replacements: L Barron. M Milne, T Lasisi, C O’Tighearnaigh, L Molony, B Murphy, C Tector, R Russell.
Referee: C Evans (Wales).
