Leinster v Glasgow Warriors - teams and prediction
PREVIEW: The Champions Cup quarterfinal round kicks off with a heavy South African influence in the Dublin showdown between Leinster and the Glasgow Warriors.
The Dublin game may well be a preview of the United Rugby Championship Final later in the season.
The Warriors are second to Leinster on the URC standings, and although they are being strongly challenged by the Bulls, the smart money should be on them staying there and playing at least their first two knock-out games at their home fortress of the Scotstoun.
The South African influence in the game starts with two key members of the respective coaching staff.
Both Jacques Nienaber, the senior assistant coach to Leo Cullen at Leinster, and Glasgow’s head coach Franco Smith have had strong Springbok connections.
Nienaber is the most recent Bok World Cup winning coach, while Smith served as an assistant coach under Allister Coetzee and of course was also a more than useful flyhalf/centre for the Boks in the second part of the 1990s.
Leinster have got one thing right in the past three Champions Cup seasons – they have won all their Pool games which has enabled them to top their pool and advance to the knock-out phase with a good enough seeding to play all their play-off games at home.
Well, there is a destination final, this year Cardiff, but the season before last that destination final was in Dublin, so Leinster have managed to give themselves a significant leg up.
But while they made three finals they lost all of them, even the one in Dublin, albeit all of them by the narrowest of margins, and they are desperate to go better than that this season.
After three narrow misses, a fourth would be very difficult for them to recover from.
That’s where further South African influence comes in, with Springbok lock RG Snyman joining All Black centre Jordie Barrett in creating the point of difference for Leinster.
On their home ground, they should be too much for the Warriors, who are due to play in Dublin again in the URC in a few weeks, but given the clash in styles, it should also be a great game to watch.
For the hosts, flanker Josh van der Flier will be hoping to cement his worth to Lions coach Andy Farrell in a tasty potential one-on-one with Glasgow equivalent Rory Darge.
The Irishman, having played all of Leinster’s Champions Cup outings so far this term as well as all of his country’s appearances in the recent Six Nations, has more than proved himself again and again at the highest level this season.
But, with a personally impressive Six Nations campaign to his name, Darge has entered the fray in recent weeks for a potential call-up.
The Scottish No.7 has made a name for himself thanks to his 67 tackles in this season’s Champions Cup and topping the equivalent charts for his country in the Six Nations. His high offload and turnovers won numbers also show how his game lends itself to both defence and attack.
The pair will be looking to continue their form at the highest level this weekend should they feature and could be pivotal to their side’s hopes of a semi-final.
Head-to-Head
Last 5 Meetings
Prediction
@rugby365com: Leinster by 12 points
Teams
Leinster: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 James Lowe, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan (captain),7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Max Deegan, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 Andrew Porter, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Diarmuid Mangan, 20 Caelan Doris, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Robbie Henshaw.
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Kyle Rowe, 14 Jamie Dobie, 13 Stafford McDowall, 12 Tom Jordan, 11 Kyle Steyn (captain), 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 Sione Vailanu, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Alex Samuel, 4 Gregor Brown, 3 Sam Talakai, 2 Johnny Matthews, 1 Nathan McBeth.
Replacements: 16 Grant Stewart, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Patrick Schickerling, 19 JP du Preez, 20 Max Williamson, 21 Euan Ferrie, 22 Ben Afshar, 23 Sebastian Cancelliere.
Date: Friday, April 11
Venue: Lansdowne Road, Dublin
Kick-off: 20.00 (19.00 GMT)
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Anthony Woodthorpe (England), Adam Leal (England)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)
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