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14 of the 19 Leinster and Munster players who helped Ireland to beat England will start Saturday's PRO14 final
By Liam Heagney
All 19 players from Leinster and Munster who were involved in last Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations 32-18 win by Ireland over England have been chosen to feature in this Saturday’s all-Irish Guinness PRO14 final at the RDS, 14 of them as starters.
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Leinster had 13 players who saw action versus the English and nine will start against Munster as Leo Cullen’s side look to clinch a fourth successive league title. While the likes of Hugo Keenan, Robbie Henshaw, Josh van der Flier and Jack Conan, four of the six Leinster players who started for Andy Farrell, will now start the PRO14 decider for Cullen, Johnny Sexton and Tadhg Furlong have been held in reserve.
Jordan Larmour, Ross Byrne, Cian Healy, Ronan Kelleher and Andrew Porter – all Ireland subs last weekend – start for Leinster, while Ryan Baird and Jamison Gibson-Park – another pair of Farrell reserves – are on the bench.
Meanwhile, four of Munster’s five Test starters last weekend – Keith Earls, Conor Murray, Tadhg Beirne and CJ Stander – have been picked to start against Leinster.
Dave Kilcoyne, the starting Ireland loosehead who suffered a head knock early in that win over England, will bench for Munster while Peter O’Mahony, an Ireland sub last week, will skipper a team that has fit-again Joey Carbery lined up at out-half.
The hooker from Leinster is typical of the punt Bristol boss Pat Lam likes to take on unheralded players whose talents are undervalued elsewhere #PremRugbyhttps://t.co/jlMqC0MnMj
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 25, 2021
Not since a 2011 win over Leinster at Thomond Park have Munster won a title and having been defeated at the semi-final stage of the PRO14 by their arch-rivals in the past three seasons, they have every incentive to now try and secure a rare victory.
LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan; Jordan Larmour, Rory O’Loughlin, Robbie Henshaw, Dave Kearney; Ross Byrne, Luke McGrath (capt); Cian Healy, Ronan Kelleher, Andrew Porter, Devin Toner, Scott Fardy, Rhys Ruddock, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan. Reps: James Tracy, Ed Byrne, Tadhg Furlong, Ross Molony, Ryan Baird, Jamison Gibson-Park, Johnny Sexton, James Lowe.
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MUNSTER: Mike Haley; Andrew Conway, Chris Farrell, Damian de Allende, Keith Earls; Joey Carbery, Conor Murray; James Cronin, Niall Scannell, John Ryan, Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne, Gavin Coombes, Peter O’Mahony (capt), CJ Stander. Reps: Kevin O’Byrne, Dave Kilcoyne, Stephen Archer, Billy Holland, Jack O’Donoghue, Craig Casey, JJ Hanrahan, Rory Scannell.
New tournament's opening round sees Leinster host Munster just four weeks after they meet in this weekend's PRO14 final ?#PRO14 #RainbowCup #LEIvMUN
https://t.co/eVBbzdr3jO— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 26, 2021
