THERE’S TWO REASONS Gloucester feel they have a shot of taking down Leinster in their Champions Cup round three clash at Kingsholm [KO 1pm, ITV/BT Sport 2] today.
The first is their team. As promised, George Skivington has named as strong a selection as he can. That means a string of frontliners who sat out the 57-0 thrashing at the RDS before Christmas come back into the team to have a crack at one of the competition’s form sides.
The second is the venue. Listen to any of the Leinster coaches or players put forward for media duty this week, and they’ve all been quick to highlight the Kingsholm factor.
The 16,000 capacity stadium is widely considered one of the most lively in English rugby, which explains why Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster jumped at the opportunity to take in Gloucester’s home game against Saracens last Friday. The two coaches – both well acquainted with the English club game – know that the Gloucester experience can be an assault on the senses for those new to it.
Leinster’s last visit came 16 years ago (a 19-13 pool stage defeat). This is a fixture that doesn’t roll around often, and it’s a challenge Cullen – who played there during his Leicester Tigers days – has told his players to embrace in what he expects to be a very different game to the round two clash.
“They have Val Ruskin at loosehead, a good strong scrummager. We got a lot of dominance in the scrum the last day so I expect that to be a tougher battle. The experience they have across the team (Ruan) Ackerman, Ben Morgan, (Lewis) Ludlow, so a strong back row.
“They had some decent back rows out the last day but I think they’ll have a good strong physical back row presence, and the way they chase as wingers, Jonny May, Ben Meehan played the last day and kicks a lot from nine. (Santiago) Carreras at 10 is a good player, he’ll be able to take the line on himself.
It’s a different challenge. It’s more probably the occasion, being away from home, the crowd, The Shed, and how they back their teams, just making sure they (Leinster players) are nice and clear.”
Leinster go into the game with key men such as Johnny Sexton, Tadhg Furlong, Robbie Henshaw and Jason Jenkins unavailable through injury. They were then dealt a further blow during the week when James Lowe had to fly home to New Zealand due to a family issue. Leinster are not yet sure when Lowe will be able to return.
Even with so many frontliners ruled out, Cullen is able to field a strong team. Of the 15 starters, only Jamie Osborne and Ross Molony are uncapped at Test level.
In Osborne’s case, that just might change sooner rather than later. The versatile centre has been in superb form for the province and with Andy Farrell due to name his Six Nations squad next week, another eye-catching performance could leave the Ireland boss with an interesting call to make.
Today sees the 21-year-old handed his first Champions Cup start, partnering captain Garry Ringrose in midfield.
“He’s very accomplished, since he’s come into the team he’s been a really key performer for us,” Cullen continues.
He’s played at 12, 13 and a little bit at 15, particularly U20s, he’s a big left-foot, he’s nice and strong, he’s athletically improving all the time and he’s much more confident in himself.
“Going away for the St Stephen’s Day game (against Munster) he put in a really big performance that day which is great to see, one fantastic offload where he gathers the ball, is able to hold off the defender and get the ball away for that Luke McGrath line-break.
“Defensively, he’s very solid and sound as well. He’s one for the future definitely, he’s still very young but he’s an important player for the squad now over the last while.”
It’s set to be a day where some senior men hit nice milestones, and younger guns tick another box off the bucket list; Hugo Keenan wins his Leinster 50th cap, Cian Healy is in line to become a European centurion, while Brian Deeny, Liam Turner and the highly-rated Michael Milne could all make their European debuts off the bench.
Leinster arrive as favourites but Gloucester have the artillery to put up a fight. Fourth in the Premiership, level with Harlequins (third), they have struggled for consistency but Kingsholm is a hard place to win. The hosts have lost just once at home all season and go into this game with plenty to play for – despite that nine-try thrashing in Dublin last month, Gloucester are eighth in Pool A, occupying the final qualifying spot for the knockout rounds.
This will be a different type of test for a Leinster team who had to grind out a URC win at Ospreys last week, but they should have the quality to claim a 14th successive win this season – with a third straight bonus-point win in Europe very much the target.
In front of a packed Kingsholm, it should be another valuable experience for Cullen’s team as they look to take another step towards securing home advantage in the knockouts.
GLOUCESTER: George Barton; Jonny May, Chris Harris, Seb Atkinson, Ollie Thorley; Santiago Carreras, Ben Meehan; Val Rapava Ruskin, George McGuigan, Kirill Gotovtsev; Freddie Clarke, Matías Alemanno; Ruan Ackermann, Lewis Ludlow (captain), Ben Morgan.
Replacements: Seb Blake, Harry Elrington, Ciaran Knight, Cameron Jordan, Jack Clement, Steve Varney, Billy Twelvetrees, Tom Seabrook.
LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan; Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose (captain), Jamie Osborne, Jimmy O’Brien; Ross Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Michael Ala’alatoa; Ross Molony, James Ryan; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.
Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Michael Milne, Cian Healy, Brian Deeny, Jack Conan, Nick McCarthy, Harry Byrne, Liam Turner.
Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)
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