Buoyant Leinster qualified for the Champions Cup’s last-eight with one match to spare, but they can nail down a home quarter-final with another win away to Castres Olympique tonight.
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS CUP – POOL 4: Friday, January 20
CASTRES OLYMPIQUE (3rd) v LEINSTER (1st), Stade Pierre Antoine, 8.45pm local time/7.45pm Irish time (live Sky Sports 2 HD/beIN Sports/RTÉ 2fm/highlights TG4)
Team News: Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has named his team for this evening’s Champions Cup round 6 match against Castres Olympique at Stade Pierre Antoine.
The province are already assured of top spot in Pool 4 and a place in the quarter-finals, but a win away to Castres would set up a home quarter-final at the Aviva Stadium on the weekend of March 31-April 1/2.
Cullen has made three changes in total, all of them in the pack. It is as you were in the backs with full-back Isa Nacewa, this season’s Champions Cup top try scorer (six tries), again captaining the side. Nacewa is also the top points scorer with 75 points to his name.
In the number 11 and 14 jerseys are former St. Michael’s College student Rory O’Loughlin and former Naas RFC starlet Adam Byrne, with O’Loughlin due to celebrate his 23rd birthday tomorrow.
Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose will again line out alongside each other in midfield, while Luke McGrath and Jonathan Sexton complete the back-line selection. Out-half Sexton went past the 500-point mark in European Cup rugby last weekend against Montpellier.
Cian Healy and Richardt Strauss come in from the start this week to join Wexford’s Tadhg Furlong in the front row. There is another change in the second row with Ross Molony making only his second European start beside Devin Toner. Molony also featured against Castres in round 1, coming off the bench at the RDS.
The back row is as you were with Jack Conan, the three-try Heineken man-of-the-match from last weekend, selected at blindside flanker, Josh van der Flier at openside and Jamie Heaslip at number 8.
Meanwhile, Castres boss Christophe Urios has made nine changes to the side that lost 28-21 away to Northampton Saints in round 5 last week.
Out-half Julien Dumora and flanker Alexandre Bias, their two try scorers from the Northampton game, are retained along with Afusipa Taumoepeau and David Smith in the back-line and forwards Victor Moreaux and Yannick Caballero.
Uruguayan star Rodrigo Capo Ortega captains the home side from the second row, with Antoine Tichit and Daniel Kotze, who both started at the RDS in October, joined by France-capped hooker Brice Mach in the front row.
Castres’ hopes of qualifying took a hefty dent when they lost Northampton. Mathematically, the French outfit, who are unbeaten at home since September, can still progress but those chances are unlikely given that no side has ever qualified for the knockout stages with 15 points.
CASTRES OLYMPIQUE: Pierre Berard; Julien Caminati, Afusipa Taumoepeau, Florian Vialelle, David Smith; Julien Dumora, Antoine Dupont; Antoine Tichit, Brice Mach, Daniel Kotze, Victor Moreaux, Rodrigo Capo Ortega (capt), Yannick Caballero, Alexandre Bias, Steve Mafi.
Replacements: Jody Jenneker, Mihaita Lazar, Damien Tussac, Loic Jacquet, Anthony Jelonch, Julien Seron, Benjamin Urdapilleta, Thomas Combezou.
LEINSTER: Isa Nacewa (capt); Adam Byrne, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Rory O’Loughlin; Jonathan Sexton, Luke McGrath; Cian Healy, Richardt Strauss, Tadhg Furlong, Ross Molony, Devin Toner, Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements: James Tracy, Jack McGrath, Michael Bent, Mike McCarthy, Dan Leavy, Jamison Gibson Park, Ross Byrne, Rob Kearney.
Referee: Greg Garner (England)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): Castres Olympique to win: 11/2; Draw: 33/1; Leinster to win: 1/8
Pre-Match Quotes: Leo Cullen (Leinster) – “Castres are a proud club. They don’t have the same resources or budgets as some of the other Top 14 teams but year after year they have always punched above their weight – they always stay in and around the top six. At home they are very strong.
“They won the Top 14 four or five years ago, reached another final as well. They have a reasonably new coaching group, went through a sticky patch but have come out the other side of it. They are a well-coached team, comfortable playing a non-structured game.
“They don’t have the same size and power as some of the other Top 14 teams so they have adjusted their game slightly. They have had wins over Toulon, Racing and Montpellier this year at home. It is going to be a tough challenge for us.
“We want to play a high-paced game and impose our game, but we need to have the accuracy because Castres are very comfortable without structure. It is that mix of just being accurate when we get the ball so we don’t give them life and energy into the game. When they get on a roll, they are a dangerous team to stop. They’ve scored a lot of points, especially at home.”
Cian Healy (Leinster) – “I think it’s about doing ourselves justice here. We’ve done well and we’ve played quite well bar a couple of games that didn’t go to plan. But to be able to come out of this section of games pretty happy with what we’ve done, we’d take a win in this game and having a good defensive effort and putting together some of our plays pretty well.
“So not to just scrape a win, but to win the way we want to, to win playing the rugby we want to and put together that sort of game.
“We’re not going to have as difficult a task (scrummaging against Castres) as we have on the paddock out the back here. There’s lads here going for Leinster and national jerseys against each other and the level the scrum sessions get to is worse than in most games.
“I think Fogs (John Fogarty) has us prepared pretty well with what we’ve been doing and how hard we’ve been going against each other – pushing or limiting how much we do to look after us.”
Current Form – Castres Olympique – (Top 14 Championship): Won 28-11 v Pau (home), Drew 12-12 v Bayonne (away), Lost 26-18 v La Rochelle (home), Lost 29-25 v Stade Francais (away), Won 46-9 v Grenoble (home), Won 31-23 v Racing 92 (home), Lost 29-19 v Clermont Auvergne (away), Lost 28-19 v Montpellier (away); (Champions Cup): Lost 33-15 v Leinster (away), Won 41-7 v Northampton Saints (home); (Top 14 Championship): Won 33-27 v Bordeaux Bègles (home), Lost 16-15 v Toulouse (away), Won 32-13 v Brive (home), Won 34-17 v Toulon (home), Won 23-19 v Lyon (away); (Champions Cup): Lost 32-14 v Montpellier (away), Won 29-23 v Montpellier (home); (Top 14 Championship): Lost 23-10 v Racing 92 (away), Won 47-18 v Bayonne (home), Lost 22-8 v La Rochelle (away); (Champions Cup): Lost 28-21 v Northampton Saints (away)
Leinster – (GUINNESS PRO12): Won 20-8 v Benetton Treviso (home), Lost 33-25 v Glasgow Warriors (away), Won 33-20 v Edinburgh (away), Won 31-19 v Ospreys (home), Won 16-13 v Cardiff Blues (away), Won 25-14 v Munster (home); (Champions Cup): Won 33-15 v Castres Olympique (home), Lost 22-16 v Montpellier (away); (GUINNESS PRO12): Won 24-13 v Connacht (home), Won 33-10 v Zebre (away), Lost 38-29 v Scarlets (away), Won 28-15 v Newport Gwent Dragons (home); (Champions Cup): Won 37-10 v Northampton Saints (away), Won 60-13 v Northampton Saints (home); (GUINNESS PRO12): Lost 29-17 v Munster (away), Won 22-7 v Ulster (home), Won 70-6 v Zebre (home); (Champions Cup): Won 57-3 v Montpellier (home)
Top Scorers – 2016/17 European Champions Cup: Castres Olympique – Points: Benjamin Urdapilleta 36; Tries: Alexandre Bias 3; Leinster – Points: Isa Nacewa 75; Tries: Isa Nacewa 6
Previous European Meetings: 7
Saturday, October 15, 2016 – Pool 4 – Leinster 33 Castres Olympique 15, the RDS
Saturday, January 17, 2015 – Pool 2 – Leinster 50 Castres Olympique 8, the RDS
Sunday, October 26, 2014 – Pool 2 – Castres Olympique 16 Leinster 21, Stade Pierre Antoine
Sunday, January 12, 2014 – Pool 1 – Castres Olympique 22 Leinster 29, Stade Pierre Antoine
Saturday, October 19, 2013 – Pool 1 – Leinster 19 Castres Olympique 7, the RDS
Friday, December 13, 2008 – Pool 2 – Castres Olympique 18 Leinster 15, Stade Pierre Antoine
Saturday, December 6, 2008 – Pool 2 – Leinster 33 Castres Olympique 3, the RDS
European Cup Records:
Castres Olympique –
2014/15: Failed to qualify from Pool 2
2013/14: Failed to qualify from Pool 1
2012/13: Failed to qualify from Pool 4
2011/12: Failed to qualify from Pool 1
2010/11: Failed to qualify from Pool 1
2008/09: Failed to qualify from Pool 2
2006/07: Failed to qualify from Pool 1
2005/06: Failed to qualify from Pool 1
2004/05: Failed to qualify from Pool 4
2001/02: Reached the semi-finals
2000/01: Failed to qualify from Pool 4
1995/96: Failed to qualify from Pool D
Leinster –
2015/16: Failed to qualify from Pool 5
2014/15: Reached the semi-finals
2013/14: Reached the quarter-finals
2012/13: Failed to qualify from Pool 5
2011/12: Champions
2010/11: Champions
2009/10: Reached the semi-finals
2008/09: Champions
2007/08: Failed to qualify from Pool 6
2006/07: Reached the quarter-finals
2005/06: Reached the semi-finals
2004/05: Reached the quarter-finals
2003/04: Failed to qualify from Pool 3
2002/03: Reached the semi-finals
2001/02: Reached the quarter-finals
2000/01: Failed to qualify from Pool 1
1999/00: Failed to qualify from Pool 1
1998/99: Failed to qualify from Pool A
1997/98: Failed to qualify from Pool A
1996/97: Failed to qualify from Pool B
1995/96: Reached the semi-finals
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