Champions Cup: Bristol Bears v Leinster,
Ashton Gate, Sunday, 5.30pm
Live on Premier Sports 1
This Sunday evening opener could be as tough, albeit in a very different way, than the January renewal of hostilities with La Rochelle and it lands on Leinster when they have had the most disruptive preparation of any team in the competition.
The net effect of Ireland’s additional autumn match against Australia last week is palpable. In addition to having only a week together again, Leinster are without Hugo Keenan for four weeks due to a wrist injury and James Lowe with a calf strain for an indeterminate amount of time, while Cian Healy and Ryan Baird miss out.
Leinster’s Champions Cup opener brings a meeting with a familiar face
Jamie Osborne has also joined their casualty list and after starting all four Irish games and playing 256 and 320 minutes respectively, both Andrew Porter and Caelan Doris are restricted to bench duties.
By contrast, two other Irish ever-presents, Joe McCarthy and Josh van der Flier, start their fifth game in five weeks, yet despite the former’s workload and the absence of Keenan and Osborne, RG Snyman and prospective Leinster debutant Jordie Barrett are named on the bench.
Both can certainly have a serious impact but even so, the selection of these two stellar names on the bench strongly supports the belief that Leinster are not permitted to start either of them in the Champions Cup.
Jack Conan again captains a side showing nine changes in personnel from last weekend’s win in Ulster, with Rónan Kelleher, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, van der Flier, Jamison Gibson-Park, Sam Prendergast, Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose all return, as does Ciarán Frawley at fullback.
The squad trained in Energia Park in Donnybrook on Friday in memory of Dave Fagan, who died this week after a short illness after working with the province as a strength and conditioning coach since 1995 with the senior team, academy and sub-academy.
“It gives me goosebumps just thinking about him,” admitted Leo Cullen, who first worked under Fagan when he left school. “When players leave school or club, they go into the Ken Wall Centre of Excellence and it’s like the school of hard knocks down there. It was an unbelievably sad day yesterday here. We try to move on. It won’t be easy, but our thoughts at the moment are with his family.”
For his part, Pat Lam makes only three changes from last week’s 48-24 win away to Harlequins — virtually the norm for Bristol — in recalling the English pair of Ellis Genge and Harry Randall, and promoting Harry Thacker.
Bristol sit second in the Premiership, with five wins and a maximum nine bonus points in seven games. Collectively they have scored the most tries, 36. Individually, left wing Gabriel Ibitoye, with his pace, strength, elusiveness and extravagant offloading, leads the way with six, as does ex-Blackrock pupil and Connacht’s Pro12 winning outhalf AJ MacGinty in the points charts with 75.
“Bristol like to keep the ball on the field, they play quick, they play from anywhere, they have an unbelievably strong running game and for us defensively it’s going to be a serious challenge for the 23,” admitted Cullen.
“It looks like a very unstructured free-flowing game, but it is very structured in the roles the players would have within that.”
Now in his eighth season there, not surprisingly Lam has Bristol singing a tune familiar to Connacht and to his credo that all his players, backs and forwards, must touch the ball over 1,000 times in training every week.
Bristol always look to push the pass, keep the ball off the deck and vary the point of attack. They don’t mind conceding 30 so long as they score 40.
“They are completely unique,” admits Jacques Nienaber, relishing the challenge. “You won’t find a lot of international teams that will play like that because if you lose [at Test level] it’s written in history.
“At club level you can have a little bit of a crack because if you lose a game, you score 30 and they score 31, it’s not as detrimental. It’s not knock-out yet.
“But that is why I’m so excited, to try and work out plans for Pat and all the things that he has lined up for us. Listen, they’ve got a bag full of tricks and you can be 21-0 down in 15 minutes if all their stuff sticks and you’re a little bit off your game.”
This could be a wild and fluctuating ride, and Leinster will most likely have to roll with a few punches, but they may just have enough forward power and ballast off the bench to come through.
BRISTOL BEARS: Rich Lane; Jack Bates, Benhard Janse van Rensburg, Kalaveti Ravouvou, Gabriel Ibitoye; AJ MacGinty, Harry Randall; Ellis Genge, Harry Thacker, Max Lahiff; James Dun, Joe Owen; Santiago Grondona, Fitz Harding (capt), Viliame Mata.
Replacements: Gabriel Oghre, Jake Woolmore, Lovejoy Chawatama, Steven Luatua, Benjamin Grondona, Kieran Marmion, Joe Jenkins, Benjamin Elizalde.
LEINSTER: Ciarán Frawley; Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Jimmy O’Brien; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Jack Boyle, Rónan Kelleher, Rabah Slimani; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Max Deegan, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan (capt).
Replacements: Gus McCarthy, Andrew Porter, Thomas Clarkson, RG Snyman, Caelan Doris, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Jordie Barrett.
Referee: Pierre Brousset (France).
Forecast: Leinster to win.
