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Leinster Lineup Announced For Heineken Cup Clash

Thursday, 7 April 2022 at 14:07

The starting XVs for Leinster's crunch tie versus Connacht have been announced

The Leinster Rugby team has been named to face Connacht in the Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16 tomorrow evening.

Having integrated some of the returning internationals into the lineup for last weekend's win at Thomond Park, Cullen has added captain Johnny Sexton into the matchday squad this week.

The St Mary's College man will be joined in the half-backs by Luke McGrath, playing inside the same back line that started against Munster.

Hugo Keenan remains at full-back with Jimmy O'Brien, scorer of four tries in Leinster's last European outing, and James Lowe on the wings.

Garry Ringrose once again partners Robbie Henshaw in midfield.

In the pack, Cullen has made wholesale changes to the front five with Cian Healy, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, Ross Molony and Josh Murphy coming in.

Behind them, the back row of Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier and Jack Conan goes unchanged.

Leinster Rugby team v Connacht (appearances in brackets):

15. Hugo Keenan (39)
14. Jimmy O'Brien (46)
13. Garry Ringrose (95)
12. Robbie Henshaw (61)
11. James Lowe (60)
10. Johnny Sexton CAPTAIN (178)
9. Luke McGrath (168)

1. Cian Healy (242)
2. Dan Sheehan (22)
3. Tadhg Furlong (120)
4. Ross Molony (132)
5. Josh Murphy (56)
6. Caelan Doris (48)
7. Josh van der Flier (107)
8. Jack Conan (110)

Replacements:

16. James Tracy (140)
17. Ed Byrne (81)
18. Michael Ala'alatoa (17)
19. Devin Toner (277)
20. Max Deegan (81)
21. Jamison Gibson-Park (109)
22. Ross Byrne (121)
23. Ciarán Frawley (48)

The Connacht lineup has also been released this afternoon. Commenting on the team announcement, Andy Friend says:

“There’s a huge sense of excitement among all the players and management for tomorrow night. These are the type of games you want to be involved in, and with a capacity crowd behind us it’s going to be a great occasion and one we firmly believe we can win.

We have over 45 players training between our Pros and integrated Academy players so that’s a great place to be at this stage of the season, and it’s given the coaches some headaches for our squad selection as well.”

CONNACHT RUGBY MATCHDAY 23 VS LEINSTER RUGBY

Friday 8th April, 20:00 @ The Sportsground

Number/Name/Caps

15. Tiernan O’Halloran (203)

14. John Porch (54)

13. Tom Farrell (75)

12. Bundee Aki (115)

11. Mack Hansen (10)

10. Jack Carty (175) (C)

9. Kieran Marmion (204)

1. Matthew Burke (36)

2. Dave Heffernan (160)

3. Finlay Bealham (170)

4. Gavin Thornbury (59)

5. Leva Fifita (11)

6. Cian Prendergast (26)

7. Conor Oliver (37)

8. Jarrad Butler (91)

 

Replacements

16. Dylan Tierney-Martin (2)

17. Tietie Tuimauga (9)

18. Jack Aungier (27)

19. Oisín Dowling (21)

20. Abraham Papali’i (22)

21. Caolin Blade (146)

22. Conor Fitzgerald (48)

23. Sammy Arnold (35)

 

Kick off at the Sportsground is at 8pm -it's live on BT Sport and RTÉ Radio One.

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