Leinster v Glasgow Warriors - teams and prediction

SEMIFINAL PREVIEW: Leinster continue their quest for their first trophy in four years when they host Glasgow Warriors in the first of the weekend’s United Rugby Championship semifinals.

In contrast, defending champions Glasgow will look to repeat last year’s heroics, when they beat another Irish province, Munster and in doing so, became only the second team to win in Limerick that season.

This is Leinster’s 15th appearance in a URC semifinal, losing only four.

However, three of those losses have been in the last three years.

Glasgow Warriors’ three-game losing run in the URC ended with their 36-18 quarterfinal victory over the Stormers at Scotstoun last Friday.

Warriors have played in eleven previous URC semifinals with their four wins coming in the space of their last six appearances.

The last two matches between these teams went the way of the Irish province – 13-5 in their URC league outing last month and a 52-0 whitewash in a Champions Cup quarterfinal back in April.

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Ready to leave it all out there. 😤 💥

Join us for our battle with Glasgow Warriors this Saturday at 2:45pm. 🔵

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— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) June 5, 2025

Leinster senior coach Jacques Nienaber said it’s a ‘privilege’ for any team to be involved in the knock-out stages.

“It’s a privilege for us to be testing ourselves against Glasgow, the reigning champions, who understand how to play knock-out games if you look at what they did last year.

“It’s a privilege to test ourselves against a quality side like that.”

Warriors coach Franco Smith described Leinster as the ‘standard setters’ in this competition.

“They finished top of the standings for a reason, and have consistently out-performed teams across the course of this season while showing their strength in depth.

“It is a challenge that we know we will need to be at our best to meet, and the players are focused on the task at hand.

“Training this week has been sharp and competitive, with every player working hard for each other to put this squad in the best possible position.”

Smith believes his team is in better condition for this game than they were for their Champions Cup meeting with Leinster.

“We saw a lot of grit against Leinster the last time [in the 5-13 loss],” he added.

“And you must put those games against them in perspective.

“The first one was in the middle of the season and we had a lot of injuries, Zander [Fagerson] and so many others at that stage.

“The expectation that day was massive, they hadn’t played their top team since the Six Nations.

“Everything worked for them and nothing went our way that day.

“If that happens with Leinster they can put international teams away playing like that.

“That’s what we took from that.

“The next time we were less wary of the challenge, and that will hopefully help us going back there.”

Prediction

@rugby365com: Leinster by 10 points

Teams

Leinster: 15 Jimmy O’Brien, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Jamie Osborne, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 James Lowe, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan (captain), 7 Scott Penny, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Thomas Clarkson, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Rónan Kelleher, 17 Jack Boyle, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Ciarán Frawley.

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Kyle Steyn (captain), 13 Sione Tuipulotu, 12 Tom Jordan, 11 Kyle Rowe, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 Henco Venter, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Euan Ferrie, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Alex Samuel, 3 Fin Richardson, 2 Gregor Hiddleston, 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Replacements: 16 Johnny Matthews, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Max Williamson, 20 Jack Mann, 21 Macenzzie Duncan, 22 Stafford McDowall, 23 Jamie Dobie.

Date: Saturday, June 7
Venue: Lansdowne Road Stadium, Dublin
Kick-off: 14.45 (13.45 GMT)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales), Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)