Jimmy O’Brien To Join Leinster’s 100-Cap Club

Hailing from Eadestown, County Kildare, O’Brien made his debut against the Ospreys in November 2018, and signed a contract extension recently as he continues to be a versatile option for both Leinster and Ireland.

The 28-year-old recovered from a neck injury which ruined his 2023/24 campaign, and has started their last eight URC matches either at full-back or on the wing. He missed only 19 minutes of action during that time.

O’Brien, Leinster’s only try scorer in their 13-5 final round win over Glasgow Warriors, switches to the right wing, with 2025 British & Irish Lions duo James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park slotting back into the back-line.

The loss of knee injury victim Robbie Henshaw, who is set to be sidelined for three to four weeks, is covered by the versatile Jamie Osborne, who partners Jordie Barrett in the centre.

In total, head coach Leo Cullen has made six personnel changes for the visit of the Welsh side. The Lions trio of Rónan Kelleher, Joe McCarthy, and Josh van der Flier return up front.

The table toppers have opted for a six-two split on the bench, which includes loosehead prop Jack Boyle, a URC Next-Gen Player of the Season nominee. Luke McGrath and Ciarán Frawley will cover the back-line positions.

Chasing their first league title since 2021, this is Leinster’s tenth successive appearance in the play-offs. They have won all four of their previous quarter-finals, but lost 35-22 away to the Scarlets in round 16 – the Welsh side’s first victory in 16 games against Irish opposition.

Looking back at that defeat in Llanelli, Lowe said: “They just kept pinning us back. A little bit of scoreboard pressure made sure they stayed in the game throughout the whole 80 minutes.

“If you look at the way they pinned us back, that’s obviously a big part of my game to try and nullify that – their attacking kicks, their ability to get it to a wide channel, two deep passes, kick to the other side.

“Their box kicking was exceptional when we didn’t get kick pressure on them. Their wingers are big boys, six foot three or four, long and rangy, great in the air. There’s a lot of little intricate bits that, if we get right, we can try to take away from them.

“Even the kicks from midfield rucks went over the top to try to split our back-field. We’ve got to get across our own stuff.

“Hopefully, we get some good kick pressure and if we can catch those on the full, hopefully we can turn them and put the same pressure on them.”

He added: “When I look around the changing room and the people who aren’t going to be here next year, the two you obviously think of are Ross Byrne and Cian Healy.

“Some of the best days of your life are when you win silverware together. For Ireland we have been able to do that in recent years, but we haven’t been able to transfer that with Leinster.

“We can’t let Cian Healy leave Leinster without another medal around his neck again. It’s not doing him justice. It’s not doing Ross Byrne justice. That’s hopefully the plan for the next three weeks.”

LEINSTER (v Scarlets): Hugo Keenan; Jimmy O’Brien, Jamie Osborne, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Thomas Clarkson, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan (capt).

Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Scott Penny, Luke McGrath, Ciarán Frawley.