HARRY BYRNE WON’T have needed reminding this week that in a team like Leinster, you’ve got to grab the opportunities when they come your way.
The out-half is now in his fifth full season as a Leinster player but remarkably, today’s Champions Cup meeting with Leicester Tigers at Welford Road [KO 3.15pm, TNT Sports] represents just his second European start.
The first only arrived just over a month ago, Byrne starting Leinster’s Champions Cup opener away to La Rochelle on a day the province recorded a statement win at the Stade Marcel Delfrandre.
It was a high-stakes game for Byrne, with Leo Cullen admitting it was “time to deliver” as the former St Michael’s student geared up one of the biggest games of his career. Byrne did just that before his evening was cruelly cut short.
In testing wet conditions Byrne steered the team well and his handling was excellent, while he also showcasing smart footwork and a nice delayed pass in the build-up to Jordan Larmour’s try. One kick that ran dead aside, it looked like the performance Byrne had been waiting for before a HIA forced him off after 39 minutes.
Ultimately it was his replacement who provided the headline moment of the game, Ciarán Frawley draining a monster long-range penalty at the death.
Byrne hasn’t featured in the Champions Cup since, injury keeping him sidelined as Leinster racked up wins against Sale Sharks and Stade Francais. It’s been the story of his career, glimpses of promise followed by a series of injury setbacks.
With Byrne named alongside Frawley and Munster’s Jack Crowley as the three out-halves in Andy Farrell’s Six Nations squad, today provides a timely opportunity to back up the La Rochelle game and prove he can do it on the big days in Europe, with a potential place on the Ireland bench for the France game up for grabs.
For context, as Byrne heads into his second Champions Cup start, Crowley starts in Europe for the ninth time as Munster welcome Northampton Saints to Limerick.
Crowley, who turned 24 last weekend, has already played a total of 680 minutes of Champions Cup rugby across three seasons with Munster. Byrne, who turns 25 in April, has just 144 minutes to his name.
His task today will be helped by the fact he starts in a strong Leinster side. The return of Byrne at 10 and James Ryan’s inclusion in the second row are the only changes from the side that swatted aside Stade Francais in Dublin last weekend.
With 15 Ireland internationals in their starting team, this Leinster side would fancy their chances of taking on France in Marseille in two weeks’ time.
With their place in the knockouts already secured, the selection underlines Leinster’s desire to land home advantage in the round of 16 and provides many of Andy Farrell’s frontliners with another chance to tune up ahead of the Six Nations.
James Lowe looked sharp on his return to the team last weekend while the likes of Ryan Baird, Joe McCarthy and Jordan Larmour will be aiming to give Farrell something to consider as he weighs up his options ahead of Ireland’s opener in Marseille on 2 February.
Last weekend’s clash with Stade turned into a routine big Leinster win but they won’t be afforded the same time and space at Welford Road.
Leicester were desperately disappointing as they fell to a 45-12 defeat away to a rampant La Rochelle on Sunday but shouldn’t be lacking motivation today. The Premiership side need one match point to guarantee their place in the last 16 and with that in mind, Springboks stars Handré Pollard and Jasper Wiese both return to the starting team, while winger Ollie Hassell-Collins and flanker Handro Liebenberg also come back in after injury.
Don’t expect any surprises in their approach – Dan McKellar’s side have made fewer offloads than any other team in the competition this season (averaging four offloads per 80 minutes) and top the kicking charts with an average of 38 kicks per game.
Pollard’s role will be particularly intriguing given his close ties to Leinster assistant coach Jacques Nienaber.
The Leicester out-half was a core part of South Africa’s success at the 2019 and 2023 World Cups and will hope to use that inside knowledge to find holes in a Leinster defensive system still learning the Nienaber way.
It’s perhaps the most fascinating subplot of what could be a cracking Champions Cup clash at one of European Rugby’s great grounds.
LEICESTER TIGERS: Freddie Steward; Harry Simmons, Matt Scott, Dan Kelly, Ollie Hassell-Collins; Handré Pollard, Tom Whiteley; James Cronin, Julián Montoya (capt), Joe Heyes; Harry Wells, Ollie Chessum; Hanro Liebenberg, Tommy Reffell, Jasper Wiese.
Replacements: Archie Vanes, Francois van Wyk, Will Hurd, Sam Carter, Kyle Hatherell, Ben Youngs, Jamie Shillcock, Solomone Kata.
LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan; Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose (co-capt), Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe;. Harry Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan (co-capt); Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Cian Healy, Michael Ala’alatoa, Ross Molony, Jack Conan, Luke McGrath, Sam Prendergast, Tommy O’Brien.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
