Jordan Larmour appears set to start in place of the injured James Lowe in next Saturday’s eagerly awaited Champions Cup semi-final between the tournament’s two most successful sides when Leinster host Toulouse at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 3pm).
Lowe suffered a calf injury, seemingly when celebrating the 53rd minute try by Jamison Gibson-Park which was the catalyst for Leinster to pull away in beating Leicester 55-24 in the quarterfinals three weeks ago.
“James’s was a freakish sort of injury but we are lucky to have some great guys there,” said Leo Cullen.
“Jordan Larmour was unlucky to miss out the last day. He was excellent when James was out for the round three and four games in the pool stages as well,” added the Leinster head coach in reference to Larmour’s performances in the 49-14 win in Gloucester and 36-10 win over Racing 92 in January.
“When someone like that comes back into the selection mix it is good. But then there are other players there as well who can do a good job for us.”
The left-footed Jimmy O’Brien will presumably switch across from the right wing – where he excelled against Leicester – in Lowe’s absence, with Larmour starting on the right.
Both Josh van Der Flier, who missed the quarter-final, and Ryan Baird appear to have a reasonably good chance of proving their fitness this week, which will give Cullen and co an interesting selection given the form of Caelan Doris and Jack Conan.
Cullen returned home halfway through Leinster’s two-game trek to South Africa to be reunited with the frontline squad and coaching staff last week, so missing their first defeat of the season when beaten 62-7 by the Bulls last Saturday in their final regular season URC game.
“It’s not something we take lightly,” said Cullen. “We’re not trying to disrespect the competition. Both competitions we want to go after and do whatever we can to win both of them.”
“It’s a semi-final in the Aviva against the most successful team in the competition’s history,” he added. “That’s where we want to be, we want to play the best teams. It’s a great challenge, but we’re massively excited. Fresh energy, that’s what’s needed.”
Cullen also noted that Toulouse rested pretty much all their frontline troops – the brilliant Antoine Dupont, Roman Ntamack, Thomas Ramos et al – when losing last Saturday by 19-10 away to Stade Francais in the classico.
Melvyn Jaminet suffered an ankle sprain which will sideline him for several weeks, so joining Ange Capuozzo (whose shoulder injury from the Six Nations resurfaced in last week’s win over Lyon) and Anthony Jelonch, who is out for the rest of the season.
“Watching Toulouse at the weekend and you see a team like Stade Français and you see their owner in the stand and he has pumped millions and millions and millions into his team to get to that level because he wants Top 14 success, he wants European success I’m sure. That’s what you’re up against.
“Interesting, obviously, Richard Wigglesworth had some comments the last day about us,” added Cullen good-naturedly, in reference to the interim Leicester head coach discussing the gulf in spending power between Leinster and the English clubs, while also noting that Wigglesworth played at Saracens, who were subsequently heavily penalised for repeated breaches of the salary cap.
“That’s what you’re up against, you’re up against the top teams. It’s so hard to win.
“Toulouse have five stars on their jerseys, we have, what, four stars on our jerseys. Watching Toulouse in the early days, watching them beat Cardiff in the final after Cardiff beat Leinster. Toulouse seemed like they were on a different stratosphere to Leinster Rugby at that moment in time.”
[ Back-handed compliments about Leinster dominance are misguidedOpens in new window ]
Leinster’s status as hot favourites to win the Champions Cup is, according to Cullen “just disrespectful to everyone we play against, isn’t it? I’m sure it’s just winding up the narrative in their minds.
“We’re up against the best teams in Europe. Toulouse are the most successful team in the competition; they lost at this stage last year.
What do you think their motivation is? It’s through the roof.
“That defeat last year stung them. For us, we need to understand the motivation of every other team we play.”
Not that Leinster aren’t without motivation either having come within the last play of the final against La Rochelle of emulating Toulouse’s fifth star. Hence, regarding the theory that Leinster are the best side in the competition, Cullen ventured: “I don’t think we’ve earned that right yet. We won nothing last year.”
These two multi-decorated sides sit atop the URC and Top 14, and many of the world-class players in these two European heavyweights’ squads are in the form of their lives. It could be the game of the season, a game for the ages, yet with the cheapest ticket prices at €75, sales are reputedly 37-38,000 so far.
“It’s a neutral game that’s not run by Leinster; it’s in theory a neutral game that’s run by EPCR,” said Cullen, who also noted: “You’ve got this number one seeding, but what does that get you? You’re just at home, you’ve still got to go out and deliver. The dynamic was different last year with the quarter-final and semi-final (back-to-back). This year both teams have rested up their teams and so you come off a break and you’re never quite sure.”
