Who is playing, when and where?
Leinster are playing against Northampton at 5.30pm on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium in the Champions Cup semi-final. In the second semi-final, it is an all-French affair with Bordeaux Bègles playing Toulouse on Sunday at 3pm in Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux.
How can I watch it?
You can watch the game on RTÉ2, coverage starts at 4.45pm. You can also catch it on Premier Sports, and of course live coverage will be available on The Irish Times website.
Leinster vs Northampton - the comeback final revisited
How are Leinster looking, and what are their chances?
Leinster have looked very strong in this competition, putting an incredible 114 points past Harlequins and Glasgow Warriors in the last round without conceding a single point. It is hard to be more emphatic than that, but Northampton have scored 97 points in their previous two games in the competition. Last year, the two teams met at the same stage, in Croke Park, and Leinster scraped by 20-17.
Northampton have had a poor season domestically and are seventh in the table, but have England’s halfbacks Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith, while Tommy Freeman is a threat on the wing.
Are there any tickets left?
There are surprisingly several tickets left for this game at the smaller capacity Aviva Stadium, after selling out Croke Park last time. You can find out more on Ticketmaster, with tickets available at different price points.
What is the team news?
The teams will be updated here when made available.
From our rugby correspondent Gerry Thornley:
Leinster are expected to restore some of their frontline Irish players who were used as replacements in the 52-0 quarter-final win over Glasgow, such as Dan Sheehan, Caelan Doris and Robbie Henshaw when the team for Saturday’s Champions Cup semi-final against Northampton at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 5.30pm) is announced at lunchtime on Friday.
This means that despite his superb man of the match display in that quarter-final win, it seems likely that Jordie Barrett will revert to his role as an impact replacement along with Andrew Porter, with Leinster again apparently opting to start Cian Healy.
Max Deegan and Tommy O’Brien are again expected to be rewarded for their strong form of late by being retained at blindside flanker and rightwinger respectively, where they started against Glasgow. Ryan Baird, who was ruled out of the quarter-final but completed the full 80 minutes in the defeat by the Scarlets last week, and Jack Conan, who started the quarter-final only to be forced off in the 15th minute, are likely to be named on the bench, especially in the continuing absence of the injured James Ryan.
Who will they face in the final?
Good question, that will be a tricky one to call between two outstanding and well-matched French sides. Bordeaux have home advantage, but Toulouse have the European pedigree. The bookies make Toulouse five-point favourites, but both teams would prove a stern test in Cardiff in May.
