Leinster v RC Toulon, Kick-off: 5.30pm. RDS. On TV: Live on BT Sport.
Buoyed by their fourth Pro14 title in a row, Leinster have restored Johnny Sexton, Tadhg Furlong, Ryan Baird and James Lowe, and are 14 point favourites at home to opponents who were beaten 54-16 last week and are no longer the force of yore. At face value therefore, this should be a doddle for Leinster.
Except, of course, they went out of Europe a week after winning the Pro14 final last September against three-time champions Saracens, the advantage of playing at home is seriously curtailed nowadays and Toulon, also three-time champions, have pedigree as well as the Indian sign over Leinster.
Prior to being beaten by Saracens last September, the last time Leinster were beaten at home in Europe was in December 2015 by Toulon, their fourth win out of four in this head-to-head.
Granted, it’s been six seasons since their third European Cup and they currently languish in seventh place in the Top 14, albeit they are only outside the top six on points’ difference.
It’s no coincidence that the three bulk suppliers to the French squad, Racing, Toulouse and Toulon, all suffered accordingly last week. Toulon’s worst defeat in 15 seasons, away to Lyon, was also heavily coloured, by the 25th minute red card suffered by Ma’a Nonu.
Nonu is thus suspended as Patrice Collazo makes nine changes in personnel and three positional. It’s also a measure of how seriously Toulon take Europe that they recall French captain Charles Ollivon, scrumhalf Baptiste Serin, blindside Swan Rebbadj, lock Romain Taofifenua and prop Jean-Baptiste Gros, all of whom were involved against Scotland, as well as winger Gabin Villière.
Ollivon, Serin, Taofifenua and Villière all played in France’s win over Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in February, so travelling to Dublin and playing in an empty RDS oughtn’t hold as many concerns for them as it might in the past.
While the brilliant Ollivon has carried a heavy load for France, the club captain Serin played only 31 minutes in three appearances out of five off the bench for France and has a point to prove.
“It was a frustrating tournament, and I’m disappointed because I think I had the means to bring something to the end of the game. I’m even convinced of it.” he said.
Toulon have been wildly inconsistent this season but when last locked and fully loaded in January they backed up an away win against Racing by beating Stade Francais 35-13. When they are good, they can be very good, but when they are bad, well, witness last week.
Unworthy face
That Lyon thrashing marked a first game in two months after recovering from a calf injury for the 37-year-old Parisse, who wants to continue playing with Toulon next season, after which he admitted: “I am ashamed for myself, for the club. It is unacceptable. We were catastrophic for 80 minutes. I hope this slap will serve as a lesson for the end of the season.”
Following “a fairly intense meeting” between players and coaches on Monday, Parisse added: “Taking 50 points, even two days after the game, is hard to digest. So the players and the staff got together to explain about this huge underperformance.”
“We have displayed an unworthy face in the history of RCT. We lacked respect for this club, this jersey and our supporters. As a player, that’s something you can’t accept. We need to question individually, then collectively. If we want to move forward, it is essential that each player thinks about his performance.”
Wounded alright, which makes them dangerous, but in addition to the lack of a run-out together, outhalf Louis Carbonel has been ruled out due to a knee injury sustained in Lyon.
With Anthony Belleau a long-term absentee, Toulon have thus been obliged to move the former Queensland Reds centre Duncan Paia’aua to 10. Toulon do attempt a more high-tempo, offloading game than when in their Euro pomp, but the loss of Carbonel looks a blow.
True, Leinster have lost Jamison Gibson-Park for a period of time after picking up an unspecified knock in training, which would have been a handy change-up option off the bench.
Cullen accepted that “a lot of the Pro14 teams we play are very different to some of the French teams, that’s fair to say” but noting that Collazo and Xavier Garbajosa worked together at La Rochelle, reckoned that last December’s trek to Montpellier, then coached by the latter, was comparable. Leinster won 35-14.
“There is a bit of a similarity in terms of the way they play and even the make-up of their team. Some dangerous individual players in the backline, they play with good width in terms of their attack, the likes of Villiere who we see with France and how dangerous he is as a broken-field runner.
“Then you are trying to deal with the power of the forward game, plus a very, very good [No] 9 and general in Serin so there are definite similarities between those two teams.
“There were some good bits from last week but lots of bits that we can improve upon and a lot of that was based on cohesion. The attitude was great so we need to try and get our attitude to that same point again and finish some of those opportunities because you don’t get many of those chances in these big games.”
Still, as well as being refreshed by recalls for the aforementioned quartet, especially Sexton, Leinster should be more cohesive this week and, with Lowe back and hungry, may even have a sharper cutting edge.
LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan; Jordan Larmour, Rory O'Loughlin, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe, Johnny Sexton (capt), Luke McGrath; Cian Healy, Rónan Kelleher, Tadhg Furlong, Devin Toner, Ryan Baird; Rhys Ruddock, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan.
Replacements: James Tracy, Ed Byrne, Andrew Porter, Ross Molony, Scott Fardy, Hugh O'Sullivan, Ross Byrne, Dave Kearney.
TOULON: Gervais Cordin; Masivesi Dakuwaqa, Rudi Wulf, Julien Heriteau, Gabin Villière; Duncan Paia'aua, Baptiste Serin (capt); Jean Baptiste Gros, Christopher Tolofua, Beka Gigashvili; Eben Etzebeth, Romain Taofifenua; Swan Rebbadj, Charles Ollivon, Sergio Parisse.
Replacements: Bastien Soury, Sébastien Taofifenua, Emerick Setiano, Raphael Lakafia, Julien Ory, Frederick du Plessis, Anthony Meric, Simon Moretti.
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Forecast Leinster to win.
