The biggest game of the European season will take place on Saturday as four-time Champions Cup winners Leinster will take on French side La Rochelle who will be looking to go one better after defeat in the final last year.
Leo Cullen’s side beat Toulouse in the semi-final at the Aviva Stadium in what was an absolute brilliant performance, meanwhile La Rochelle beat Racing 92 as they flexed their power at set piece.
It is only the second time that these two sides have met, the previous meeting was the semi-final of last season’s competition as the French side picked up a 32-23 win.
So, will this be the year for La Rochelle? Or will Leinster claim a fifth Champions Cup?
Match officials
English official Wayne Barnes will be the man in the middle, it is fitting to see one of the best officials in the world to take charge of the most important game of the season.
Joining him as his assistants will be Matthew Carley and Christophe Ridley, Tom Foley is the television match official.
Where to watch?
In the UK, the game will be shown on BT Sport and Channel 4, kick off is at 4:45pm Uk time.
Team news
As ever, the Leinster side is littered with Irish internationals, Hugo Keenan and James Lowe are involved in the back three.
There’s a centre partnership that will see both players reach milestones as Robbie Henshaw makes his 50th Champions Cup appearance and Garry Ringrose who reaches 100 appearances in the blue of Leinster.
Johnny Sexton captains the side from fly-half and the pack contains seven internationals.
If you thought the starting team was strong, there’s room for Rhys Ruddock, Dan Sheehan and Cian Healy on the bench – the latter will make play his 100th European game if he comes on.
Standing in their way will be the French side who are without two key All Blacks who are unavailable for them in the final.
Flanker Victor Vito and scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow aren’t In the matchday squad due to injuries as Mattthias Haddad and Thomas Berjon.
Ihaia West remains at 10 after a poor display with the kicking tee in the semi-final and will be looking to create gaps for the likes of Jonathan Danty, Raymond Rhule and Dillyn Leyds.
The pack isn’t that bad, just casually have the likes of Unai Antonio, Will Skelton and Gregory Aldritt – no big deal whatsoever!
Fijian international Levani Botia is on the bench, always handy to have someone that has been capped on the international stage at flanker and centre on your bench.
Players to watch
I’m going to mention two of the most unknown players of the Leinster side here, we all know what the likes of Lowe and Tadhg Furlong can do.
An unsung hero of the Leinster forwards is second row Ross Molony who is an absolute work horse and winger Jimmy O’Brien – who has scored eight tries in all competitions this season.
On the other hand, Brice Dulin is arguably the most unpredictable fullback on the planet and will most probably do something fantastic before following it up with something truly bizarre in the amount of time it takes an F1 team make a pitstop – so, roughly two seconds.
Although they do have Pierre Boughgrait and Wiaan Lienbenberg in the pack too, they will go through plenty of work and will excel if the French pack does get on top?
Predictions
This is a tricky game to predict, if Leinster match the La Rochelle pack and get quick service in the breakdown then you’d assume the French forwards will tire.
However, if Leinster would want to play and throw the ball around, La Rochelle will not just let them throw it around without joining in themselves.
Or we could see a real arm wrestle with the La Rochelle pack on top, but could they sustain it for 80 minutes against Leinster?
I don’t think so – Leinster by 10.
Openside Blog 