Leinster v Munster - Preview

Jonathan Sexton returns in one of nine Leinster changes for the Pro12 derby against Munster.

Zane Kirchner, Dave Kearney, Eoin Reddan, Jack McGrath, Sean Cronin, Devin Toner, Jordi Murphy and Jamie Heaslip also come in for the hosts.

Second-placed Leinster are seven points clear of Irish rivals Munster, who make five changes.

Conor Murray, Francis Saili and Andrew Conway return, along with James Cronin and CJ Stander, who is named captain.

Murray partners Johnny Holland at half-back, with Saili overcoming a bang to the shoulder to resume his midfield partnership with Rory Scannell.

As a result, Keith Earls makes a positional switch to the wing and joins Conway and full-back Simon Zebo in the back three.

Munster are boosted by the return of Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray for the Aviva Stadium derby

Munster have Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray back for the Aviva Stadium derby

Cronin will start alongside Niall Scannell and Stephen Archer in the front row, with Stander coming in to join Dave O'Callaghan and Tommy O'Donnell in the back row.

With Kirchner returning at full-back, Leinster captain Isa Nacewa moves to the right wing with Kearney also back in the equation on the left wing.

There are two new half backs in Reddan and Sexton - back in the Leinster side for the first time since the defeat by Wasps in January - while five changes in the pack include two in the front row, with McGrath and Cronin starting alongside Tadhg Furlong.

Toner returns to partner Hayden Triggs in the second row, while in the back row Rhys Ruddock is again selected - but moves from number eight to blindside flanker.

Murphy comes in at open-side while Heaslip completes the pack at number eight.

Leinster

Zane Kirchner; Isa Nacewa (capt), Garry Ringrose, Ben Te'o, Dave Kearney; Johnny Sexton, Eoin Reddan; Jack McGrath, Sean Cronin, Tadhg Furlong, Devin Toner, Hayden Triggs, Rhys Ruddock, Jordi Murphy, Jamie Heaslip.

Replacements: Richardt Strauss, Cian Healy, Mike Ross, Ross Molony, Josh van der Flier, Luke McGrath, Ian Madigan, Fergus McFadden.

Munster

Simon Zebo; Andrew Conway, Francis Saili, Rory Scannell, Keith Earls; Johnny Holland, Conor Murray; James Cronin, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Donnacha Ryan, Billy Holland; Dave O'Callaghan, Tommy O'Donnell, CJ Stander (capt).

Replacements: Mike Sherry, Dave Kilcoyne, John Ryan, Robin Copeland, Jack O'Donoghue, Tomás O'Leary, Ian Keatley, Darren Sweetnam.

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Tommy O'Donnell Returns for Ireland

Tommy O'Donnell has been named in Ireland's starting 15 for Saturday's final Six Nations clash with Scotland.

He comes in at number seven ahead of Josh van Der Flier. Otherwise, it's the same side who comprehensively beat Italy last weekend.

"Josh has shipped a couple of knocks in the last two games, he took another knock on Monday. It's been an attritional few weeks for Josh, with big 80 mins back to back. He's fit to play, but carrying a few knocks," said Schmidt.

"Conversely, Tommy has trained very well. He hasn't had the luckiest of preparations in previous times. We're looking forward to him contributing with an athletic performance.

"Josh has involved himself a lot, contact work has been high and we felt it was pertinent to give him a rest.

"We've tried to balance continuity with opportunity during this Six Nations and we're hoping it might bear a bit of fruit down the line."

Rory Best proved his fitness at Ireland’s training session and he will link up with Jack McGrath and Mike Ross in the front-row, with Donnacha Ryan and Devin Toner in the engine room and CJ Stander, O'Donnell and Jamie Heaslip in the back-row.

Conor Murray will partner Johnny Sexton as Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne link up in midfield and Keith Earls, Andrew Trimble and Simon Zebo continue in the back three.

The head coach is intent on building as many combinations as possible ahead of the three Test summer tour of South Africa as his side look to maintain their place on the World Rugby rankings table at the end of the competition.

Defeat could have major implications on Ireland’s prospects for the 2019 World Cup, with no decision yet taken on whether the draw will be made at the end of this year.

Schmidt’s side are currently ranked seventh, but with three games against South Africa, two against New Zealand and one each against and Australia to come in 2016, their ranking could take a battering, but victory over ninth-ranked Scotland would give them some breathing space in their bid to remain in the top-eight teams.

Ireland

S Zebo (Munster), A Trimble, J Payne (both Ulster), R Henshaw (Connacht), K Earls (Munster), J Sexton (Leinster), C Murray (Munster); J McGrath (Leinster), R Best (Ulster, capt), M Ross (Leinster), D Ryan (Munster), D Toner (Leinster), CJ Stander (Ulster), T O'Donnell (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster).

Replacements: R Strauss, C Healy (both Leinster), N White, U Dillane (both Connacht), R Ruddock, E Reddan, I Madigan, F McFadden (all Leinster).

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Payne and Zebo Return for Ireland

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Joe Schmidt has insisted Jared Payne is too important to Ireland's defence at outside centre to consider the Ulsterman at full-back.

Head coach Schmidt revealed Ireland have not run New Zealand-born utility back Payne at full-back at all in training across the RBS 6 Nations.

Simon Zebo slots in for hamstring injury victim Rob Kearney in the No 15 jersey for Saturday's clash with Italy in Dublin, where Ireland are aiming for their first win in this year's championship at the fourth attempt.

Schmidt claimed he was never tempted to deploy fit-again Payne at full-back and hand Ulster battering ram Stuart McCloskey another opportunity in the centre.

"I don't know what calls there were on the outside for Jared to play full-back," said Schmidt.

"We haven't trained with Jared at 15 so it would be a big step for us to suddenly change that. Rob Kearney trained on Monday and Simon Zebo has played plenty of full-back for us.

"What we lack with Jared Payne not in the midfield has been particularly evident for us, particularly on the edge in defence. We're looking for him to control our defence again in the frontline."

"I've seen a lot of young players really hampered by being thrust into an environment they are not ready for." - Joe Schmidt

Reigning champions Ireland have relinquished their title after two defeats and a draw, building the pressure on boss Schmidt for a victory this weekend.

Ireland have only ever lost once to Italy in Dublin, a 37-29 defeat in 1997, so Saturday's Aviva Stadium clash ought to be the prime chance to experiment and build for the future.

Instead Schmidt has selected his strongest available starting line-up, with Payne's return at outside centre indicative of Ireland's desperation for victory.

The 30-year-old missed Ireland's 21-10 defeat to England at Twickenham with hamstring trouble but has trained without impediment all week.

Ulster powerhouse McCloskey formed a bruising centre pairing with Henshaw against England, but Schmidt has now jumped at the chance to slot Payne back into midfield.

McCloskey drops out of Ireland's matchday squad altogether, the luckless fall guy given Schmidt's reliance on calm customer Payne to bind the backline defence.

Schmidt insisted his selection policy was not "overly conservative", in light of handing McCloskey and young Leinster flanker Josh Van der Flier Test debuts at Twickenham two weeks ago.

"I think we really experimented in the last game," said Schmidt. "To put two guys into their Test match debuts at Twickenham away against a very settled and strong English side, and to have another make his debut off the bench.

"I don't think that's something that's overly conservative, it's giving opportunity and at the same time you're always looking for balance.

"I've been coaching professionally now for 15 years and I've seen a lot of young players really hampered by being thrust into an environment they are not ready for.

"They can lose their confidence and sometimes they don't quite come back in the same way.

"So it's just about getting to know the players and trying to have a balance of opportunity and, at the same time, experience."

Munster wing Keith Earls hailed Payne as the glue in Ireland's backline, insisting the former New Zealand Under-21s star has the knack of helping those around him to shine.

"JP's been brilliant since he's come in," said Earls. "I suppose he took a bit of stick during the World Cup and maybe the last few months, but he's very important to our backline.

"He's a typical Kiwi; really calm, he performs under pressure, makes things look easy and makes players around him look good. And that's great for those of us inside and outside him."

Ireland

S Zebo; A Trimble, J Payne, R Henshaw, K Earls; J Sexton, C Murray; J McGrath, R Best (capt), M Ross; D Ryan, D Toner; CJ Stander, J van der Flier, J Heaslip.

Replacements: S Cronin, C Healy, N White, U Dillane, R Ruddock, K Marmion, I Madigan, F McFadden.

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Citing Commissioner Clears Brown

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Mike Brown has escaped being cited for kicking Conor Murray in the Six Nations victory over Ireland.

Brown had protested his innocence after making contact with the Ireland scrum-half’s head while trying to kick the ball free during Saturday’s 21-10 win, tweeting: “Video ref clearly showed I didn’t [do anything wrong] and kicked the ball.” 

The referee Romain Poite judged the contact was accidental, though Murray required stitches for a head wound. The citing commissioner agreed.

The Ireland coach, Joe Schmidt, absolved the full-back of blame: “I know Mike Brown wouldn’t have done it on purpose, he was trying to connect with the ball, but it’s not something for us to influence whether he was culpable for being reckless or whatever.”

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Ireland Debut McCloskey and van der Flier

Stuart McCloskey and Josh van der Flier will make their Test debuts in Ireland’s Six Nations clash with England at Twickenham on Saturday.

Battering ram centre McCloskey has replaced injured Ulster team-mate Jared Payne in Ireland’s rejigged midfield, with Leinster’s 22-year-old Van der Flier starting at openside flanker.

Connacht’s 22-year-old lock Ultan Dillane could also make his Test bow off the bench, with Donnacha Ryan replacing concussion victim Mike McCarthy in Ireland’s injury-hit second row.

New Zealand-born centre Payne has failed to beat the hamstring problem he suffered in the 10-9 defeat to France, causing Ireland boss Joe Schmidt to move Robbie Henshaw to 13 to accommodate the uncapped McCloskey.

McCloskey and Henshaw will form what is surely Ireland’s biggest-ever centre pairing, with the 23-year-old Ulsterman having impressed hugely in PRO12 action this term.

McCloskey’s Ulster team-mate Luke Marshall admitted Ravenhill’s senior players mistook the 6ft 2ins, 17st powerhouse for a second row when he first pitched up for provincial training.

Now he has the chance to lay down a marker for a long-term spot in Ireland’s midfield, provided he can master the nerves of a Twickenham debut.

Leinster’s fast-developing flanker Van der Flier only signed his first senior contract in April, having made his provincial debut in March last year.

A natural scavenging openside, Ireland will hope Van der Flier will add an extra continuity edge against England’s imposing pack.

Ireland have battled a daunting injury catalogue in their 16-16 draw with Wales and defeat in France, leaving their chances of an unprecedented third-straight Six Nations title all but done and dusted already.

The return to fitness of seasoned and potent props Cian Healy and Mike Ross ought to shore up their previously creaking scrum however.

Healy has beaten knee surgery to take a seat on the bench, while Ross has recovered sufficiently from his hamstring issue to start at tighthead.

Ireland

Rob Kearney (Leinster), Andrew Trimble (Ulster), Robbie Henshaw (Connacht), Stuart McCloskey (Ulster), Keith Earls (Munster), Johnny Sexton (Leinster), Conor Murray (Munster), Jack McGrath (Leinster), Rory Best (Ulster, capt), Mike Ross (Leinster), Donnacha Ryan (Munster), Devin Toner (Leinster), C J Stander (Munster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Leinster). 

Replacements: R Strauss (Leinster), C Healy (Leinster), N White (Connacht), U Dillane (Connacht), R Ruddock (Leinster), E Reddan (Leinster), I Madigan (Leinster), S Zebo (Munster).

#ENGvIRE 

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Schmidt Ireland Selection Decided

Joe Schmidt has admitted his latest ever Ireland team selection has proved “unsettling and frustrating” after Simon Zebo failed a last-ditch fitness test before Saturday’s match against France.

Fergus McFadden has been drafted on to Ireland’s bench for the Six Nations encounter in Paris, with Zebo unable to shake off knee trouble and Keith Earls still recovering from suspected concussion.

Schmidt took what, for him, has been the unprecedented step of delaying his team announcement until after Ireland’s final training session on home soil before flying out to France.

The wing McFadden was omitted from Ireland’s initial Six Nations squad, but has now been pressed into service despite initially being selected for Leinster’s Pro12 encounter with Zebre on Friday night.

“That’s the latest selection and change we’ve had to make,” said Schmidt. “Normally we would name the match squad before training, and everyone would be fully fit and have absolute clarity on what their role was and where they were training. It’s probably a bit unsettling and frustrating, but we have to get around it.”

Ireland opened their Six Nations campaign with a bruising 16-16 draw with Wales in Dublin on Sunday. Schmidt lamented the realities of the short break between facing Warren Gatland’s Wales and Guy Noves’ France, while also counting hefty injury collateral.

Johnny Sexton and Andrew Trimble have won their own fitness battles to face Les Bleus, with Sean O’Brien and Rob Kearney fit again too. Fly-half Sexton has brushed off a heavy blow to his neck, with Trimble recovering from a shoulder issue and O’Brien and Kearney now past hamstring problems.

Schmidt felt Ireland had little option but to delay their selection while sweating on Zebo and Earls, only for both wingers to fail in their fitness bids.

“We were just trying to clarify the fitness of Simon Zebo and Keith Earls, both of whom we have left out of the squad,” said Schmidt. “One of the reasons it took a while was that they got through training but at the same time we just felt they weren’t 100% fit and it was a risk.

“There’s nothing worse than having someone replaced early in the game who wasn’t potentially fully fit. And having someone come off the bench who isn’t fully fit isn’t probably the best thing to do when you’re going to Paris.

“Simon Zebo was just a little bit sore and couldn’t stretch out his knee fully. Keith Earls will probably complete the last step of his HIA [head injury assessment] tomorrow, but we have to name a team today.

“It’s one of those things with a six-day turnaround, particularly when you’re travelling. If we had another day at home we could hedge our bets a little bit, but we have to get on a plane at 3.15 this afternoon, and we’ve got to take the players who are available to play.”

Sexton insisted he is raring to go despite trudging off in the final throes of the Wales match. Schmidt’s men are chasing a second successive victory in France for the first time since 1927; Sexton is adamant that statistic outweighs the fact that Ireland have not lost to France since 2011.

France have spent their last three clashes with Ireland heaping the pressure on Sexton, and the Leinster playmaker expects another physical examination with Jonathan Danty in midfield.

“I’m OK now, I just got a bang on top of the head and it just compressed my neck a little bit,” said Sexton. “But I’m fit to go and really looking forward to it.

“I’ll be fine – I probably felt the way front-rowers feel every day, but as a soft out-half I just didn’t hide it as well. We’ve only had one chance to see France under their new management, but some of the new individuals they’ve thrown in have impressed. They’ve got dangerous guys across the backline.

“I’ve played against Danty a few times when I was in Paris, and he’s pretty similar to Mathieu Bastareaud in stature. He’s got a lot of ball-playing abilities and speed to add to that too though.

“But we’ve prepared really well for it, we’ve tried to give them the respect they deserve. I don’t think you can ever go to Paris confident. They are never beaten over there, it’s a tough place to go. Just because we’ve had a little purple patch against them doesn’t mean anything now.”

Ireland 

R Kearney (Leinster); A Trimble, J Payne (both Ulster), R Henshaw (Connacht), D Kearney; J Sexton (both Leinster), C Murray (Munster); J McGrath (Leinster), R Best (Ulster, capt), N White (Connacht), M McCarthy, D Toner (both Leinster), CJ Stander (Munster), S O’Brien, J Heaslip (both Leinster).

Replacements R Strauss (Leinster), J Cronin (Munster), T Furlong (Leinster), D Ryan (Munster), T O’Donnell (Munster), E Reddan, I Madigan, F McFadden (all Leinster).

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Toulon Win Leaves Leinster Hoping

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Toulon, the champions, bounced back from their defeat by Wasps and all but ended Leinster’s hopes of qualifying with a 24-9 victory over the Irish province in Pool One at Stade Mayol day.

Toulon, who included their latest big signing, the All Black World Cup winner Ma’a Nonu, for the first time in a Champions Cup match, extended their unbeaten home run in the tournament to 16 games with a hard-fought victory.

Leinster, who, like Toulon, have won Europe’s premier club competition three times, arrived knowing that a third consecutive defeat would end any hopes they had of reaching the last eight and they did not help themselves by having three forwards sent to the sin-bin. The flanker Steffon Armitage scored both tries for the home side from driving lineouts.

The visitors were given the perfect start when the former Saracens and England prop Matt Stevens collapsed the first scrum and Jonny Sexton landed a penalty from near the halfway line after only three minutes.

Early indiscretions by Toulon allowed Leinster to build an advantage, with Sexton doubling the lead from his second penalty in the sixth minute after the home side had gone over the top at a ruck.

If the signs were encouraging for Leo Cullen’s side, they were given a reminder of Toulon’s power after 10 minutes.

Having ignored a penalty within kicking range and instead sent the ball into the right corner, they turned a line-out take by Samu Manoa into a driving maul which resulted in Armitage crossing for a try which the scrum-half Éric Escande improved.

Escande then kicked a penalty to make it 10-6, but Sexton replied to make it a one point game at the end of the first half.

Leinster survived for 10 minutes without the prop Cian Healy, who was sent to the sin-bin for a reckless challenge on Guilhem Guirado at a ruck. But it was a different story when Devin Toner was shown the yellow card six minutes into the second half.

This time Escande was able to add two more penalties to his tally and by the time the Ireland lock returned the home side had moved into a 16-9 lead.

There was one more penalty from the boot of the scrum-half in the 67th minute which ended the visitors hopes of salvaging a losing bonus point.

The replacement lock Tom Denton was the third Leinster forward to be sent to the sin-bin and no sooner had he gone off than Armitage went over again for Toulon.

There will be a 30,000-plus crowd at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin when the two teams meet again on Saturday but the prospects for Leinster, with only one point from three games, are extremely bleak.

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Toulon v Leinster - Champions Cup

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Leinster have retained their starting line-up from the quarter-final win over Bath for Sunday's European Champions Cup semi-final against holders Toulon.

That means centre Ben T'eo, fly-half Jimmy Gopperth and Mike McCarthy are the only starters from last weekend's damaging Pro12 defeat by the Dragons.

Irish Six Nations stars Rob Kearney, Cian Healy, Sean O'Brien and Jamie Heaslip are all named in the side.

Wales full-back Leigh Halfpenny has been passed fit to start for Toulon.

Halfpenny's return after missing the 32-18 quarter-final win over Wasps means a switch to wing for ex-England international Delon Armitage.

Other backs changes from the quarter-final see Springboks star Bryan Habana replacing Drew Mitchell on the other wing and Matt Giteau taking over from injured Maxime Mermoz at centre.

Xavier Chiocci is preferred to Alexandre Menini at prop while there are two changes in the back row from the previous round with Juan Smith and Juan Fernandez Lobbe replacing Mamuka Gorgodze and Steffon Armitage.

T'eo's selection at centre for Leinster means that Gordon D'Arcy again has to be content with a place on the bench.

Last weekend's defeat by the Dragons has left Leinster's Pro12 chances hanging by a thread and the European competition is now probably their only remaining chance of silverware this season.

However, Matt O'Connor's side will be up against a big-budget Toulon side who can afford to leave top-class performers such as Steffon Armitage, Menini and Mitchell on the bench.

The French outfit are attempting to secure an unprecedented third successive European club title this season after their Heineken Cup triumphs over the past two years.

Three-time Heineken Cup champions Leinster have misfired in their defence of the Pro12 title this year and failed to score a try in their win over Bath as Ian Madigan's six penalties proved enough.

Leinster's strength in that game was their discipline as they gave few penalties and they will need a repeat of that with Wayne Barnes taking charge of Sunday's game.

However, Toulon defeated the Irish province 29-14 in last year's quarter-finals and will favourites to repeat that victory.

Toulon: Halfpenny; D Armitage, M Bastareaud, Gitea, Habana; Michalak, Tillous-Borde; Chiocci, Guirado, Hayman (capt); Botha, Williams; Smith, Fernandez Lobbe, Masoe.

Replacements: Orioli, Menini, Chilachava, S Armitage, Mitchell, Wulf, Claassens, Suta

Leinster: R Kearney; McFadden, Te'o, Madigan, Fitzgerald; Gopperth, Boss; Healy, Cronin, Ross, Toner, M McCarthy, J Murphy, O'Brien, J Heaslip.

Replacements: Strauss, J McGrath, Moore, Marshall, D Ryan, Reddan, G D'Arcy, Kirchner.

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

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