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The Champions Cup final team Brian O’Driscoll wants Leinster to pick

Leinster's Will Connors (left) with Jordan Larmour (Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Brian O’Driscoll has recommended Leinster make three changes to their XV for this Saturday’s Investec Champions Cup final versus Toulouse in London from the side chosen for their semi-final win over Northampton – including the benching of Josh van der Flier, the 2022 World Rugby player of the year.

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The Irish province defeated the Saints at Croke Park 20-17 on May 4 and with Leo Cullen set to confirm his cup final team at noon on Friday, Irish legend O’Driscoll has told RugbyPass the names he wants to see included on that teamsheet.

Hugo Keenan, James Ryan, and Will Connors made their comebacks in last Saturday’s United Rugby Championship loss to Ulster from various recent injuries and O’Driscoll believes they should now all be named in the XV to face Toulouse in the Champions final at Tottenham.

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Keenan had a knee problem since the early April round-of-16 win over Leicester. Ryan was out with a ruptured bicep sustained in a “freak” training ground injury with Ireland in the lead-up to their early March Guinness Six Nations loss to England. Meanwhile, Connors was a late withdrawal from this month’s league win over Ospreys, crying off on a precautionary basis.

O’Driscoll suggested that Leinster would be best served to take on their French rivals with Keenan replacing Ciaran Frawley at full-back, Ryan taking over from Ross Molony at lock and Connors getting the openside nod ahead of van der Flier following the semi-final against Northampton.

Fixture
Investec Champions Cup
Leinster
22 - 31
Full-time
Toulouse
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Asked if Ryan should start in the engine room, O’Driscoll explained: “Yes, he starts. He does because of what he does. You look at the importance of losing him in the final last year when he came off (versus La Rochelle).

“I just think there is a comfort that comes with someone who has been around a long time. He has maybe not the physicality but he has a little bit of a nasty edge to him that I just fancy if he is fit and the engine is good enough I think you’d want him on for 55, 60 minutes as a starter for sure.”

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So name your ideal XV. “Front row picks itself (Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, and Tadhg Furlong). There is your second row (Ryan with Joe McCarthy). I think you might see Will Connors at seven just because of a bigger physical pack; it worked really well against La Rochelle (in the quarter-final).

“I know Josh won’t love that but the luxury of having him come on with 35 minutes to go, you know, playing the game that he can bring, I just think that chop game will be important to Leinster.

“I watched back the semi-final last year (versus Toulouse) and (Jack) Conan was so good, but taking (Caelan) Doris out of eight and putting him to six just doesn’t make sense to his game, so I think Doris will play eight and (Ryan) Baird will play six.

“Half-backs pick themselves (Jamison Gibson-Park and Ross Byrne). Centres will be (Jamie) Osborne and (Robbie) Henshaw, provided (Garry) Ringrose isn’t fit.

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“And then I think you have got to stay with (Jordan) Larmour and (James) Lowe on the wings with Hugo Keenan at full-back. I just don’t know if Jimmy O’Brien has done enough since returning from injury yet to displace Jordan.”

Leinster defeated Toulouse 41-22 in last year’s semi-final in Dublin 12 months after beating them 40-17 in another semi-final fixture at the same Aviva Stadium.

  • Watch Leinster vs Toulouse in the Investec Champions Cup final, exclusively live on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+ from 1:30pm on Saturday. For more info visit tntsports.com
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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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