Leinster

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Ireland's Bundee Aki, Mack Hansen and Finlay Bealham have returned to the Connacht line-up for Saturday's United Rugby Championship trip to Leinster (17:30 GMT).

The international trio were rested for Connacht's Challenge Cup games after their exertions during Ireland's Autumn Nations Series.

They will face a much-changed Leinster team with only All Blacks star Jordie Barrett and Jimmy O'Brien retained from last week's Investec Champions Cup win over Clermont.

Barrett, making his first URC appearance, switches from full-back to inside centre while O'Brien moves from the wing to full-back.

With Sam Prendergast rested, Ross Byrne is recalled at fly-half while two-time World Cup winning Springbok second row RG Snyman makes his first start since October.

URC table-toppers Leinster have won all seven games this season while Connacht are eighth after three victories and four defeats, including a 33-12 reverse to Leo Cullen's side in October.

Leinster: J O'Brien; A Arenzana-King, C Tector, J Barrett, A Osborne; R Byrne, L McGrath; J Boyle, G McCarthy, R Slimani; D Mangan, RG Snyman; A Soroka, S Penny, J Conan (capt).

Replacements: L Barron, M Milne, C Healy, B Deeny, R Baird, J Gibson-Park, H Byrne, M Deegan.

Connacht: P O'Conor; M Hansen, C Forde, B Aki, S Jennings; J Ioane, B Murphy; D Buckley, D Heffernan, F Bealham; J Murphy, D Murray; C Prendergast (capt) S Hurley-Langton, P Boyle.

Replacements: D Tierney-Martin, J Duggan, J Aungier, O Dowling, S Jansen, C Blade, S Cordero, C Oliver.

Jonathan Bradley
BBC Sport NI Journalist at Aviva Stadium

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Leinster boss Leo Cullen admitted his side are "not at the level" they need to be despite beating Clermont Auvergne 15-7 to record a ninth consecutive win to start this campaign.

The Champions Cup victory over Top 14 opposition came thanks to two tries in four first-half minutes from Garry Ringrose and Jordie Barrett but otherwise the Irish province managed just a solitary Sam Prendergast penalty.

Their line-out was an issue throughout, while the game lost much of its shape when conditions worsened in the second half.

Cullen does not feel Leinster are displaying the kind of form shown by last season's fellow finalists Toulouse who beat Ulster 61-21 in the opening game of their title defence last week.

"There's is a lot more in us," he said.

"If we want to be successful and go on in this competition, we are not at the level of probably where, as an example, I watched Toulouse last week, where they are.

"They are in unbelievable form at the moment so we've plenty to work on."

Leinster, who return to United Rugby Championship action against Connacht on 21 December, still took nine points from their first two Champions Cup fixtures having also beaten Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate.

"If someone said you were going to get nine points from the two games, you'd probably be quite happy, but when you score two tries in the first half of the second game having got five points last week, it sort of feels like there are things there that we can be better at," Cullen added.

"The dressing room is frustrated at how we performed because we want to put on a better show in front of our home fans but at the same time, you've got to win against a team that is used to these sort of arm-wrestles in the Top 14, where they're currently sitting third.

"They've ton of experience. It's good to get a win."

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Jordie Barrett will make his first start for Leinster in Saturday's Champions Cup Pool 2 match against Clermont Auvergne at the Aviva Stadium.

All Black Barrett signed from the Hurricanes on a short-term deal at the end of November and scored a try on his debut off the bench in last week's 35-12 win over Bristol Bears.

The 67-times capped New Zealander takes the place of the injured Ciaran Frawley at full-back.

Sam Prendergast retains the number 10 shirt after scoring two tries in the away victory over the English Premiership side.

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has made five changes in total to his starting team, with captain Caelan Doris, Liam Turner, Andrew Porter and Thomas Clarkson also being included.

Clermont defeated Benetton 28-0 in their opening Pool 1 encounter.

Leinster: Barrett; Turner, Ringrose, Henshaw, O'Brien; Prendergast, Gibson-Park; Porter, Kelleher, Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, Ryan; Deegan, van der Flier, Doris (capt).

Replacements: Gus McCarthy, Healy, Slimani, Snyman, Conan, Gunne, Byrne, Osborne.

Jonathan Bradley
BBC Sport NI Journalist

Image source, Inpho

Leinster boss Leo Cullen says the province want "to make sure" they set up All Black Jordie Barrett to succeed during his short stay in Dublin.

The utility back arrived at the RDS this week and acted as water carrier for his new team-mates as they beat Ulster 27-20 in Belfast on Friday night to make it seven wins from seven games in the United Rugby Championship this season.

The 27-year-old, who is on a deal that runs until the end of the season, picked up a slight knock on international duty this month but Cullen said he looks "OK" as Leinster turn their attention to their Champions Cup opener away to Bristol on December 8.

"Jordie only arrived in on Wednesday. So he had a knock and he came off in the French game so he looks like he is OK," said Cullen.

"We will try to get him up and running through training first and make some calls as to when he starts.

"It’s unusual that you have a player coming in halfway through the season, so we want to make sure we set him up as well as possible to help him succeed. We will go about that process over the next while."

Having been bulk suppliers to Andy Farrell's Ireland squad through four November Tests, Cullen is looking forward to getting other key men back too.

"We are lucky in that these are guys that have been playing at the top end of the game," he added.

"We will watch [Saturday's Ireland versus Australia] game with great interest to see how everybody comes through.

"The international guys, they are coming back in next week as well, but we will try to keep them fresh to have them firing in the new year."

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Ulster's Ireland hooker Tom Stewart is in line to make his first appearance of the season for the province after being named in the replacements for Friday's United Rugby Championship game against Leinster at Kingspan Stadium.

Stewart has been out of action so far this season because of an ankle injury.

Prop Scott Wilson will make his first start of the campaign as he is named in place of the Ireland-tied Tom O'Toole in one of five changes to the starting line-up from the defeat by Cardiff a month ago.

On that occasion, Ulster squandered a 19-0 half-time lead as they lost 21-19.

Stewart Moore takes over at full-back from Ethan McIlroy while Ben Carson is drafted in at centre, with Stuart McCloskey unavailable because of his commitments with the Ireland squad.

With Iain Henderson and Cormac Izuchukwu both on Ireland duty, Alan O'Connor returns to the second row and will skipper the side while James McNabney is handed a back-row start.

Wing Zac Ward is unavailable after being concussed in Ulster's A game against their Connacht counterparts last weekend while coach Richie Murphy is also without Robert Baloucoune (calf), Jake Flannery (ankle), James Hume (knee), Callum Reid (knee), Ethan McIlroy (ankle) and Sean Reffell (ankle).

Leaders Leinster make 11 changes from their last outing against the Lions but are still able to include Ireland internationals Jack Conan, Ross Byrne, Jimmy O'Brien, Jordan Larmour, Luke McGrath, Will Connors and Max Deegan.

Leinster's bench includes Springboks star RG Snyman, Scott Penny and the second of their Byrne fly-half brothers Harry, who is also an Ireland international.

Leo Cullen's side lead the United Rugby Championship table by six points after their six opening wins while Ulster are 13 points off the pace in seventh spot after mixing three wins with three defeats.

Ulster: Stewart Moore; Werner Kok, Ben Carson, Jude Postlethwaite, Michael Lowry; Aidan Morgan, Nathan Doak; Eric O'Sullivan, James McCormick, Scott Wilson; Alan O'Connor (capt), Kieran Treadwell; James McNabney, Nick Timoney, David McCann.

Replacements: Tom Stewart, Andy Warwick, Corrie Barrett, Harry Sheridan, Marcus Rea, John Cooney, James Humphreys, Ben Moxham.

Leinster: Jimmy O'Brien; Jordan Larmour, Liam Turner, Charlie Tector, Andrew Osborne; Ross Byrne, Luke McGrath; Jack Boyle, John McKee, Rabah Slimani; Diarmuid Mangan, Brian Deeny; Max Deegan, Will Connors, Jack Conan (capt)

Replacements: Lee Barron, Michael Milne, Rory McGuire, RG Snyman, James Culhane, Fintan Gunne, Harry Byrne, Scott Penny,

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Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has signed a two-year contract extension with the Irish province.

The new deal will keep the 46-year-old with Leinster until 2027.

Former Ireland lock Cullen has won four United Rugby Championship titles and one Champions Cup in his nine years in charge in Dublin.

"I am delighted and honoured to have been asked to continue in my role as head coach of Leinster Rugby," Cullen said after signing his contract extension.

"We are lucky to have a fantastic group of players and staff here at Leinster who I enjoy going to work with every day."

While Cullen, who won 32 caps for Ireland, has tasted European success with Leinster - winning the Champions Cup in 2018 - the Irish province has lost the last three finals.

"Yes, we have come up short in the last three years and while we are very conscious of that fact, my remit and that of the club in making a head coach appointment, is to also look beyond that," said Leinster CEO Shane Nolan.

"We are consistently competing in finals year after year, we continue to develop exciting homegrown talent from our pathways, and when we do look externally for coaching or player recruitment, we continue to attract the highest calibre of talent to our club who are excited to work with Leo."

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The Irish Rugby Football Union [IRFU] has confirmed that a provincial 'A' championship will return next month.

The competition will see second string sides from each of the four provinces meet each other home and away between November and May in an effort to give those not featuring regularly in the United Rugby Championship game-time through the season.

"We’re delighted to kickstart the men’s ‘A’ Interprovincial championship which will provide a host of players with a further means of developing in a meaningful competition," said the IRFU's performance director David Humphreys.

"With the success of the Emerging Ireland tours, coupled with the return of an ‘A’ international against England next year, it is vital that we continue to provide players at provincial and club levels with opportunities to impress outside of the traditional URC and EPCR fixture windows.

"Discussions have been ongoing for some time to provide players with meaningful games and all four provinces are unanimously supportive of this competition."

Ulster will start their campaign by welcoming Connacht to Ballymacarn Park, the home of Ballynahinch RFC, on 22 November with Humphreys adding it is hoped the competition will benefit All-Ireland League clubs.

"It is also great to see provinces taking matches around their local clubs," he said.

"It is anticipated that as the competition progresses over the coming seasons these fixtures won’t clash with Energia All-Ireland League fixtures for the most part, thus potentially also offering players from the club game with an opportunity to impress.

"This competition will form another important part of the representative pathway from Energia AIL to URC levels for Academy players upwards over the coming seasons."

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Leinster will go into the international break top of the United Rugby Championship after beating the Lions 24-6 at the Aviva Stadium for their sixth win from six games played this season.

Leo Cullen's men did, however, drop their first point of the campaign having failed to collect a four-try bonus for the first time in 2024-25.

All six points for the South African visitors, who came into this round second in the table, came from the boot of Kade Wolhunter.

Less than two weeks from Ireland meeting New Zealand at the same ground, Leinster were able to call on a healthy number of their Test contingent for the top of the table meeting.

It was one of those Irish internationals who scored the only try of the first-half, Josh van Der Flier wriggling his way across the whitewash after Caelan Doris had been stopped short just prior.

Before that try in the 32nd minute, the only scoring of the first half had come through penalties, one for Leinster's Sam Prendergast and a pair from the Lions' Wolhunter.

The second half proved to be a similarly tight affair as conditions worsened.

While James Lowe was just unable to ground Prendergast's grubber kick beyond the try line, it took until almost the hour mark for the first points after the turn.

With Doris having made the carry that preceded Van der Flier's score in the first half, this time it was the openside flanker swivelling to pass to his number eight to set up the try for the new Irish captain.

As the Lions' charge faded despite a battling performance, Leinster had already made the victory safe by the time, with the last play of the game, they were awarded a penalty try when their maul was illegally stopped when driving over the line.

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Munster and Leinster have named strong teams boasting plenty of Ireland players for their United Rugby Championship matches against South African opposition on Saturday.

Munster have named Calvin Nash, Jack Crowley, Craig Casey and Tadhg Beirne to start against the Sharks in Durban (15:00 BST), while Leinster have included a host of their Test players for their top-of-the-table clash with the Lions at Aviva Stadium (17:15).

Munster boss Graham Rowntree makes four changes from last week's loss to the Stormers with Rory Scannell, Casey, Stephen Archer and John Hodnett all recalled.

Caelan Doris, who was this week named Ireland captain for next month's autumn internationals, skippers a Leinster side featuring Robbie Henshaw for the first time this season. Henshaw will be partnered in midfield by Hugh Cooney, who makes his first senior start.

With Ciaran Frawley not included after his injury against Connacht last weekend, Sam Prendergast - who was included in the Ireland squad this week - starts at fly-half for Leo Cullen's side.

Munster: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Rory Scannell, Sean O’Brien; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; John Ryan, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne (capt); Tom Ahern, John Hodnett, Jack O’Donoghue.

Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Kieran Ryan, Ronan Foxe, Fineen Wycherley, Ruadhan Quinn, Ethan Coughlan, Billy Burns, Alex Kendellen.

Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Andrew Osborne; Hugh Cooney, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Luke McGrath; Michael Milne, Gus McCarthy, Rabah Slimani; RG Snyman, Ryan Baird; Max Deegan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).

Replacements: Stephen Smyth, Andrew Porter, Thomas Clarkson, Brian Deeny, James Culhane, Cormac Foley, Ross Byrne, Charlie Tector.

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Leinster coach Jacques Nienaber has clarified his comments about the prospect of him returning to South Africa's coaching set-up in the future.

Nienaber helped the Springboks win back-to-back Rugby World Cups in 2019 and 2023 before joining the Irish province as a senior coach last year.

Speaking to the Irish media on Monday before Leinster's United Rugby Championship game against South African side Lions on Saturday, Nienaber - who is under contract at Leinster until 2026 - appeared to indicate that he had no plans to rejoin the Springboks.

But posting on X, Nienaber said he is happy at Leinster without dismissing "what might come down the line".

He wrote: "Hey guys - I was asked yesterday in media about life at Leinster and being a club coach day to day...but headlines can be misleading.

"It is absolutely the right time for me, my family and my coaching journey, and being tested daily, to be here now.

"But that is not to dismiss what I did before now, what I loved to do before now or to dismiss what might come down the line.

"But for now, I am happy here at Leinster. My full quotes reflect that. Not the headlines!"