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Josh van der Flier returns in Leinster team to play Toulouse

Press Association

Ireland’s back row Josh van der Flier is set to make a comeback from injury in the Heineken Champions Cup semi-final match between Leinster and Toulouse this Saturday at the Aviva Stadium.

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Van der Flier is battling back from an ankle injury but has been passed fit to start.

James Ryan has been named at skipper, while van der Flier is set to earn his 50th Champions Cup cap. The team also sees the return of Charlie Ngatai, who has been out of action since early January, and is paired with Garry Ringrose in the centre.

Hugo Keenan has been named the full-back, while Jordan Larmour and Jimmy O’Brien are set to play on the wings. The front five remains unchanged from their quarter-final win against the Leicester Tigers, with Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, and Tadhg Furlong forming the front row, while Ross Molony and James Ryan have been picked for the second row.

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Caelan Doris, Jack Conan, and van der Flier will make up the back row. Meanwhile, on the bench, Cian Healy is set to earn his 262nd Leinster cap, putting him in second place on the team’s all-time record cap holder list – just behind Devin Toner – who currently holds the record with 280 caps.

There is also a place on the bench for Ryan Baird, who himself has battled back from a shoulder niggle.

LEINSTER:
15. Hugo Keenan
14. Jordan Larmour
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Charlie Ngatai
11. Jimmy O’Brien
10. Ross Byrne
9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter
2. Dan Sheehan
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Ross Molony
5. James Ryan
6. Caelan Doris
7. Josh van der Flier
8. Jack Conan

REPLACEMENTS:
16. John McKee
17. Cian Healy
18. Michael Ala’alatoa
19. Jason Jenkins
20. Ryan Baird
21. Luke McGrath
22. Harry Byrne
23. Ciarán Frawley

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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules

Yep, no one knows what will happen. Thing is I think (this is me arguing a point here not a random debate with this one) they're better off trialing it now in a controlled environment than waiting to open it up in a knee jerk style reaction to a crumbling organtization and team. They can always stop it again.


The principle idea is that why would players leave just because the door is ajar?


BBBR decides to go but is not good enough to retain the jersey after doing it. NZ no longer need to do what I suggest by paying him to get back upto speed. That is solely a concept of a body that needs to do what I call pick and stick wth players. NZR can't hold onto everyone so they have to choose their BBBRs and if that player comes back from a sabbatical under par it's a priority to get him upto speed as fast as possible because half of his competition has been let go overseas because they can't hold onto them all. Changing eligibility removes that dilemma, if a BBBR isn't playing well you can be assured that someone else is (well the idea is that you can be more assured than if you only selected from domestic players).


So if someone decides they want to go overseas, they better do it with an org than is going to help improve them, otherwise theyre still basically as ineligible as if they would have been scorning a NZ Super side that would have given them the best chance to be an All Black.

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