LEINSTER HEAD COACH Leo Cullen has named his final matchday squad of the season for tomorrow evening’s Guinness Pro14 Rainbow Cup game against Dragons (KO 8.15pm – live on eirSport).
In what will be their first game in front of fans since February 2020, 1,200 supporters will be in attendance at the RDS for one of a series of test events sanctioned by the government.
The majority of the supporters will be official members, granted tickets by way of a lottery system, while there will also be 100 frontline staff from St Vincent’s University Hospital in attendance as guests of Leinster Rugby.
Cullen welcomes several returning faces into the 23, with Jamison Gibson-Park in from the start for the first time since the Pro14 final win over Munster, and Vakh Abdaladze — he’ll make his first appearance of the season and become the 60th player used this campaign by Cullen, if introduced — and Harry Byrne on the bench.
📢 | 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒
— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) June 10, 2021
➡ Garry Ringrose ©
➡ @JamisonGPark, @VAbdaladze and @harrybyrne23 return 💪
➡ @JamesRyan126 🧢5️⃣0️⃣#LEIvDRA #GuinnessPRO14RainbowCup pic.twitter.com/zoTMsNITrb
Michael Bent and Scott Fardy start in their final games for Leinster, the former in the front row and the latter signing off on his 80th cap at blindside.
Garry Ringrose captains the side, with James Ryan set to win his 50th cap.
The team announcement confirms that “none of Tadhg Furlong, Jack Conan, Robbie Henshaw or Johnny Sexton were considered for selection this week but all four trained and were available if required”.
Leinster Rugby (caps in brackets):
15. Hugo Keenan (29)
14. Jordan Larmour (61)
13. Garry Ringrose (85) – captain
12. Rory O’Loughlin (86)
11. Jimmy O’Brien (34)
10. Ross Byrne (103)
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (100)
1. Cian Healy (230)
2. Rónan Kelleher (24)
3. Michael Bent (158)
4. Ryan Baird (26)
5. James Ryan (49)
6. Scott Fardy (79)
7. Scott Penny (28)
8. Caelan Doris (39)
16. James Tracy (128)
17. Michael Milne (15)
18. Vakh Abdaladze (11)
19. Devin Toner (265)
20. Josh van der Flier (97)
21. Luke McGrath (150)
22. Harry Byrne (23)
23. Cian Kelleher (27)
Dragons
🐉 TEAM | The team is 🆙 to face @leinsterrugby in the final #GuinnessPRO14RainbowCup game of the season ⤵️
— Dragons (@dragonsrugby) June 10, 2021
👊 Williams & Roberts return to side
8️⃣ changes as @elliotdee2 @aaronjarvis0, @JoeDavies1311, Harri Keddie, @orjenkins11, @Josh10Lewis all feature#Rise #BringYouFire🔥 pic.twitter.com/pP7lTUNtQ2
