With Ulster losing last night’s first semi-final to Glasgow Warriors, this is the last interprovincial derby of the season as Leinster and Munster fight it out for a place in next Saturday’s GUINNESS PRO14 final at Celtic Park.
GUINNESS PRO14 SEMI-FINAL: Saturday, May 18
LEINSTER (1st, Con B) v MUNSTER (2nd, Con A), the RDS, 2.30pm (live eir Sport 1/Premier Sports 1/RTÉ Radio 1/DAZN/SuperSport 8/deferred TG4)
Team News: With Jonathan Sexton listed on the bench, Rhys Ruddock will captain Leinster from the back row when they lock horns with Munster in this afternoon’s GUINNESS PRO14 semi-final at the RDS.
The much-anticipated interprovincial derby is a sell-out with all 18,977 tickets snapped up – including the extra 677 seats brought in this week. There will be no tickets available from the ticket office at the RDS today.
Head coach Leo Cullen has made four changes to the team that lost last Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup final in Newcastle. Sexton and Scott Fardy are named among the replacements, while Rob Kearney and Sean O’Brien are not part of the matchday 23.
The lone positional switch sees Jordan Larmour revert to full-back with Dave Kearney returning on the right wing. James Lowe continues on the left, Ross Byrne hits 70 Leinster caps at out-half, and Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw and Luke McGrath complete the back-line.
The tight five from the Saracens match is retained – front rowers Cian Healy, Sean Cronin and Tadhg Furlong, along with locks Devin Toner and James Ryan – and Josh van der Flier had got back in time for the defending champions’ PRO14 play-off tilt.
The 26-year-old van der Flier returns at openside flanker for his first Leinster appearance since January, having recovered from the groin injury he suffered during the Six Nations. Skipper Ruddock, who is promoted from the bench, and Jack Conan complete the loose forwards.
Experienced second row Toner used last year’s tightly-contested semi-final at the RDS, which saw the Leinstermen prevail 16-15 in gripping encounter, as an example of what sort of contest he is expecting when Munster make a return trip today.
“It was a cracking occasion last year, it was a really tough game and we’re expecting nothing less this year,” said the Meath man. “Obviously, Munster have had two weeks to prepare for it so they’re going to be up for it this weekend, I’ve no doubt.
“It’s not going to be too hard to get up for Saturday afternoon, to be honest. Munster in a semi-final, especially in the RDS as well, we really want to put on a good game for our fans.
“The travelling support for us over the years has been amazing. To see them when we were there last weekend in St. James’ Park for the Champions Cup final was unbelievable. The amount of flags was ridiculous and they were so loud.
“I hope it came across what they mean to us. We know, first of all, how expensive it is to be able to go over to away games, away finals, and there’s so many of them that go to every single away game. We want to put in a good showing for them, especially at the RDS.”
Meanwhile, there are four changes to the Munster team to play arch rivals Leinster. Johann van Graan’s men, who finished second in Conference A, go into the interprovincial derby having won 17 of their 22 PRO14 matches so far this season, scoring an average of just under four tries per game.
Ireland stars Keith Earls and Joey Carbery are back in the starting XV having returned to full training this week following their respective thigh and hamstring injuries. John Ryan and Arno Botha also start, the latter coming in at number 8.
Earls, whose thigh strain has kept him out since early April, rejoins Mike Haley and Andrew Conway in the back-three, with Chris Farrell and Rory Scannell continuing in midfield and Carbery reunited with Conor Murray at half-back.
South African Botha is selected at the base of the scrum with CJ Stander shifting to openside flanker. Peter O’Mahony captains the province from the blindside, with fellow back rower Jack O’Donoghue poised to make his 100th Munster appearance off the bench.
The tight five has a familiar look to it as Ryan and Dave Kilcoyne combine with Niall Scannell in the front row, and the lock berths are filled by Jean Kleyn and Tadhg Beirne, the man-of-the-match in Munster’s 26-17 home win over Leinster in December.
Carbery also impressed during that game and he is looking forward to facing his former provincial team-mates once again, saying: “Some of them would be really good mates of mine, but at the end of the day I’ve got to go out and do my job and I’m doing it for the side I want to be doing it for.
“It’s hugely exciting. Playing in the semi-final of the PRO14 is huge – it doesn’t come around every day. I am really looking forward to it, to be honest. It will be weird being in the other dressing room (at the RDS) but no, I can’t wait to get out there.
“It’s been a frustrating couple of months. Hammies are quite niggly and so there were stages when I was going good, then going bad, and it was hard to call. I made a pact with the physios that I wouldn’t play until I was 100%. So I’ve been training the last couple of weeks and it feels pretty good.”
LEINSTER: Jordan Larmour; Dave Kearney, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Ross Byrne, Luke McGrath; Cian Healy, Sean Cronin, Tadhg Furlong, Devin Toner, James Ryan, Rhys Ruddock (capt), Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan.
Replacements: Bryan Byrne, Ed Byrne, Andrew Porter, Scott Fardy, Max Deegan, Nick McCarthy, Jonathan Sexton, Rory O’Loughlin.
MUNSTER: Mike Haley; Andrew Conway, Chris Farrell, Rory Scannell, Keith Earls; Joey Carbery, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, John Ryan, Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne, Peter O’Mahony (capt), CJ Stander, Arno Botha.
Replacements: Kevin O’Byrne, Liam O’Connor, Stephen Archer, Billy Holland, Jack O’Donoghue, Alby Mathewson, JJ Hanrahan, Dan Goggin.
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant Referees: Lloyd Linton, Keith Allen (both Scotland)
TMO: Neil Paterson (Scotland)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): Leinster to win: 1/3; Draw: 16/1; Munster to win: 13/5
Pre-Match Quotes: Leo Cullen (Leinster) –
There are a lot of different factors but ultimately for us, we have come off a huge final which we’ve lost, unfortunately. And very similar in terms of how we tried to manage the group last year, we’re trying to get a bit of fresh energy into the team and it also gives us a lot of experience coming off the bench, particularly with Johnny (Sexton) and Scott Fardy.
“Having those two leaders to call on later in the game if required, so there’s a little bit of that in it. Ross (Byrne) has done well during the chances he’s had, played a lot of games for us this year, built up a huge amount of experience so another positive step for him as well.”
“I’d heard rumblings alright (about the Munster selection), Arno Botha has been going well for them as well. A big, strong, physical presence that back row that they have, so yeah we thought Botha would feature at some stage.
“They’ve a decent line-up, they’ve played a lot of games together and again it’s going to be a great physical challenge for our players as these games always are. There’s so much at stake, there’s the PRO14 this season but there’s a lot of little sub-plots as well. So, it’s going to be a great challenge.
“Obviously Joey (Carbery) came in and played this game last year and the Wednesday after the season finished, the PRO14 final, I got a call from Joey telling me he was moving off. So, yeah, we were gutted to lose Joey last year with the investment gone into him but that’s part of the sport, you know?
“In theory, we thought he was going to be still here, involved with us, at this stage of the season, but he’s playing for another team now and we just have to get on with it and move on. I’m not sure what sort of welcome he’ll get, we’ll wait and see.”
Johann van Graan (Munster) –
As I said after the Treviso game, Joey (Carbery) and Keith (Earls) are pretty important players to ourselves and if they’re 100% ready I’ll pick both of them. Earlsy’s been out for a long time now but I believe your big players will perform in the big games and if both of them are ready I’m going to back both of them.
“They’ve both been brilliant in our season. I thought two of our best runs of games were Leinster at home, Connacht away, Gloucester away and Exeter at home when we had a pretty settled team. From Munster Rugby’s point of view, we want to win a trophy and in order to win a trophy, we have to beat Leinster in the RDS.
“It’s hugely important for us. We can’t win in Europe but we can win in the PRO14. If we want to even talk about winning the PRO14, we’ve got to get past Leinster into the final.
“European rugby is massive to Munster Rugby with the history and what people have put into it. This group, we spoke in here over the last two weeks and we want to take the next step and get past that in the PRO14 as well.
“That’s the only thing that’s still in our hands for this season. So in terms of the playing group, the management and the people involved in Munster Rugby, we’re going to give it everything we’ve got this weekend.”
Top Scorers – 2018/19 GUINNESS PRO14: Leinster – Points: Ross Byrne 93; Tries: Conor O’Brien, James Lowe, Bryan Byrne, Sean Cronin, Max Deegan 6 each; Munster – Points: Joey Carbery 75; Tries: Andrew Conway, Rhys Marshall 6 each
2018/19 TEAM FORM: Leinster – Played 21, Won 15, Drawn 1, Lost 5; W 33-32 v Cardiff Blues (away), L 23-21 v Scarlets (away), W 52-10 v Dragons (home), W 31-7 v Edinburgh (home), W 20-3 v Connacht (away), W 30-22 v Munster (home), W 31-3 v Benetton Rugby (away), W 38-31 v Isuzu Southern Kings (away), W 52-7 v Ospreys (home), W 59-10 v Dragons (away), W 33-29 v Connacht (home), L 26-17 v Munster (away), W 40-7 v Ulster (home), W 22-17 v Scarlets (home), W 40-24 v Zebre (away), W 59-19 v Isuzu Southern Kings (home), W 19-7 v Toyota Cheetahs (home), L 28-11 v Edinburgh (away), D 27-27 v Benetton Rugby (home), L 39-24 v Glasgow Warriors (home), L 14-13 v Ulster (away)
Munster – Played 22, Won 14, Drawn 2, Lost 6; W 38-0 v Toyota Cheetahs (home), L 25-10 v Glasgow Warriors (away), W 49-13 v Ospreys (home), L 37-13 v Cardiff Blues (away), W 64-7 v Ulster (home), L 30-22 v Leinster (away), W 25-24 v Glasgow Warriors (home), W 30-26 v Toyota Cheetahs (away), W 32-7 v Zebre (away), W 44-14 v Edinburgh (home), L 19-12 v Ulster (away), W 26-17 v Leinster (home), W 31-24 v Connacht (away), W 8-7 v Dragons (away), W 43-0 v Isuzu Southern Kings (home), W 19-13 v Ospreys (away), L 10-6 v Scarlets (away), W 31-12 v Zebre (home), W 45-21 v Cardiff Blues (home), W 37-28 v Benetton Rugby (away), W 27-14 v Connacht (home), W 15-13 v Benetton Rugby (home)
RECENT LEAGUE MEETINGS:
Monday, December 26, 2016 – Munster 29 Leinster 17, Thomond Park
Saturday, October 7, 2017 – Leinster 23 Munster 17, Stadium
Tuesday, December 27, 2017 – Munster 24 Leinster 34, Thomond Park
Saturday, May 19, 2018 – Semi-Final – Leinster 16 Munster 15, the RDS
Saturday, October 3, 2018 – Leinster 30 Munster 22, Aviva Stadium
Saturday, December 29, 2018 – Munster 26 Leinster 17, Thomond Park
MATCH FACTS:
– Leinster are playing in their ninth GUINNESS PRO14 semi-final in the last ten years, with all those clashes being at the RDS where their only defeat at this stage was to the Scarlets two years ago
– Leinster are in the midst of their worst ever home run at the RDS in the PRO14, having gone two games without a win – drawing to Benetton in round 19 and losing to Glasgow in round 20
– This is Munster’s tenth Championship semi-final where their record is won five and lost four
– Munster’s only defeat in the PRO14 since round 11 was 10-6 at the Scarlets on March 2
– Munster’s 26-17 defeat of Leinster at Thomond Park in round 12 ended a run of four successive victories for Leinster in the fixture
– The two provinces have met in five previous semi-finals in all competitions with Munster taking the first two and Leinster the last three
– Munster have made six previous visits to the RDS, including two semi-finals in 2010 and 2018, but their only victory there was 18-nil in September 2008