Glasgow have their homework done ahead of Leinster rematch
It's eight weeks to the day since Glasgow Warriors were thumped 52-0 by Leinster at Aviva Stadium in the quarter-final of the Investec Champions Cup, and yet there's a sense that the Scottish side are returning to Dublin this weekend with those scars fully healed.
In the immediate aftermath of that hammering in April, Glasgow boss Franco Smith kept an even keel.
"For me, we've been winning quite a bit and pushing the players' boundaries and limits every week but today they found out what is still needed to be competitive in international rugby or the top end of club rugby," he said, after his side were "bullied" by their hosts.
Smith wasn't the first coach to say his side would take their learnings from a big defeat to Leinster, but the evidence suggests those were not empty words.
When they returned to Dublin three weeks ago in the final round of the URC's regular season, they put up a much sterner fight in a 13-5 defeat, and while the game was ultimately a dead-rubber, they frustrated a Leinster side whose confidence looked dented following their Champions Cup exit against the Northampton Saints.
As they prepare to meet this Saturday, all of the pressure is on Leinster, who are desperate to end a four-year wait for silverware.
Glasgow arrive into town off the back of a 36-18 win against the Stormers last time out, arguably their best performance of the season.
"Leinster are the standard setters in this competition," Smith (above) said, after naming his side for Saturday's semi-final.
"They finished top of the standings for a reason, and have consistently out-performed teams across the course of this season while showing their strength in depth.
"It is a challenge that we know we will need to be at our best to meet, and the players are focused on the task at hand.
"Training this week has been sharp and competitive, with every player working hard for each other to put this squad in the best possible position for tomorrow afternoon."
If Glasgow are to retain the title they won last season, they will once again have to do it the hard way.
Just as it was last season, Ireland and South Africa would be their semi-final and final destinations, should they go all the way.
But Smith isn't thinking any further than the Aviva.
"It's a semi-final. The mindset and approach and attitude in a final game is obviously the main ingredient," he said.
"We've got to be on top of our game. They've got a world-class team. They've proven it in the Test match arena, they've proven it in this competition.
"It's a class outfit. It's going to be a tough challenge.
"The only way we're going to get better and keep on growing and progressing is if we challenge ourselves to be the best version of ourselves."
While Leinster are without Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Garry Ringrose, Tadhg Furlong and now Hugo Keenan, Glasgow are also dealing with a hefty injury list this weekend.
Two of their British and Irish Lions squad members, Zander Fagerson and Huw Jones (above), are out injured, while Scotland internationals Matt Fagerson and Jack Dempsey are also sidelined.
Sione Tuipulotu, who returned from a long term injury in Round 18 against Leinster, looked back to his best in the quarter-final win against the Stormers, and the Scotland captain shifts across to outside centre this week, Tom Jordan pivoting from out-half to first centre, and Adam Hastings coming in at out-half.
"We've had a couple of outings in Dublin already this year, so we know what we're coming up against on Saturday," Jordan said.
"We fully expect Leinster to bring their best and we know how strong they are across the field.
"We know we need to get our mindset right and just have each other's back for 80 minutes – we're loving our footy at the minute and we want to leave it all out there for each other on Saturday.
"All the players know deep down what we have to do.
"We've got to relish these matches and we know what it takes in this competition. Everyone's excited to get out to Dublin, and we're ready to get stuck in this weekend."
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Irish Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Leinster have point to prove as the doubters circle ahead of URC semi-final
Leinster will have to avoid the pressure-trap against Glasgow Warriors in the URC semi-final at The Aviva this afternoon. Notwithstanding, they lost last year's Champions Cup final in extra-time, lost this year's semi-final by three points and have lost three consecutive URC semi-finals by a point, a point and five respectively. But it is surely fair to suggest a squad with 12 Lions, three highly rated foreigners and another dozen chosen to tour with Ireland this summer have little to fear - but themselves. But that's not the full story as Leo Cullen finds himself dealing with the growing 'noises off' as much as what's happening centre stage. As for the main actors Hugo Keenan has pulled out with a calf-strain which sees Jimmy O'Brien move no15 and a fit-again Tommy O'Brien brought onto the right-wing while Scott Penny deputising for Josh van der Flier as he did for the last hour last week. Tommy O'Brien had been their in-form late-in-the-season back while spare a thought for Penny who was the glaring overlook when the Ireland squad was named midweek. Penny will hardly lack motivation. "To be honest I was more focussed on trying to prepare the group, no offence, Scott," said Cullen of a player who will be seeing 15 Leinster players touring this summer - and it would have been 17 but for Will Connors and Caelan Doris's injuries. "Scott has 86 appearances for Leinster and I hope he goes well, and he just needs to be ready and play well and focus on that. "Selection (for Ireland) is one of those things that are out of your control, injury is out of your control, those are the frustrating things about being a professional sportsman. "The only thing you can control is preparation and performance. If he plays well enough, hopefully he won't be too far away in the future." Meanwhile Cullen is for reminding the sceptics, growing day by day this week it seemed, that Leinster don't lose ALL their play-off/knockout games - they have won 14 of the last 17 played in Dublin in the last four seasons. "We've had positive play-off games where we've racked up big scores on dry days and conceded no points but it didn't ultimately help (win anything), do you know what I mean? So, you'd prefer, what, two 6-3 wins if it meant you were going to win semi-finals." But then knockout rugby is, by its nature, hard to predict. 'None of us know exactly what way it will unfold. That's the pressure of knock-out games and all the rest. 'I was looking at the Champions League final in the football and a lot of the pundits were saying that the other team were going to win, that lost. They got steamrollered in the end. "That's the beauty of sport isn't it? We think we might know what's going to happen but it's two teams going at it and we'll wait and see." Former Scotland captain and Premier Sport TV commentator John Barclay has been one for putting up a case for Warriors and, even then, he is worried about sounding 'daft'. 'There's a lot of talk about a vulnerability to Leinster after what Saints did to them in the Champions Cup but it feels a bit daft, given they finished top of the league, we may be losing sight of that," he says. 'There's a template of how to beat Leinster from the Scarlets and Northampton games, the key message being that Leinster are not unbeatable, but you have to be disruptive, really go after them. "There's lots to admire and learn from what the Scarlets did last weekend, they were brave, they attacked well and they didn't just sit back. 'If you are Leinster you are probably quite liking people writing you off as well. They topped the URC, got to the semi-finals of Europe. Yes there will be bits of their game they will be wanting to sharpen up – but I think they will also be pretty confident. The Scots need to be able to consistently shut Leinster's playmakers. 'For Glasgow, it's about disrupting the flow of the game that quality players like Jamison Gibson-Park, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe dictate, the guys that determine where and how they play the game. 'The up front battle will also be huge but how good will that contest be between the likes of Tom Jordan, Sione Tuipulotu and Jordie Barrett? "Tom Jordan will be even more motivated with the prospect that it could be his last game for the club.' Warriors finished fourth in the league-proper and come to the game as outsiders to make the final but they shouldn't be written off. Continues Barclay: "Glasgow are looking good, looking sharp and are peaking at the right time, I think they will be confident going over there. 'They dominated the Stormers up front last weekend which surprised a few people given the size of them, but the Warriors are so well coached now, they know how to do that. 'If you look at the coaching ticket that Glasgow have, the way they evolve and have a plan for every week, I think they'll be pretty comfortable in what they have to do as a team on Saturday. 'It's fascinating that a Glasgow team that can get beaten 52-0 points over there a few weeks ago and actually people say they have a reasonable chance." Leinster: Jimmy O'Brien, Tommy O'Brien, Jamie Osborne, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe, Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Ryan Baird, Scott Penny, Jack Conan (CAPT) Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Ciarán Frawley Glasgow Warriors: Josh McKay, Kyle Steyn (CAPT), Sione Tuipulotu, Tom Jordan, Kyle Rowe, Adam Hastings, George Horne, Jamie Bhatti, Gregor Hiddleston, Fin Richardson, Alex Samuel, Scott Cummings, Euan Ferrie, Rory Darge, Henco Venter Replacements: Johnny Matthews, Rory Sutherland, Sam Talakai, Max Williamson, Jack Mann, Macenzzie Duncan, Stafford McDowall, Jamie Dobie Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
RTÉ News
3 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Lions distractions have been addressed - Leo Cullen says Leinster fully focussed
It's the end of the season and nowhere near the end of the season. Come 5pm today, or next Saturday evening, club duties will be all wrapped up but, for a sizeable 12 of the Leinster contingent, it will be another eight weeks before they can put their feet up. That's the current tally of Lions-in-waiting that Leo Cullen has to deal with for, hopefully, the next seven days. Today's squad for the semi-final of the BKT URC against Glasgow has eight, Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Jack Conan, Jamison Gibson-Park, James Lowe and Rónan Kelleher. Staying on ice for the moment are Josh van der Flier (hamstring), Tadhg Furlong (calf), Hugo Keenan (calf) and Garry Ringrose (calf). It's a month since Andy Farrell named his squad and it would be impossible for any of the tourists to completely park the buzz that comes with the thoughts of representing the Lions; 10 of the 12 are first-time Lions, albeit Porter and Kelleher were part of the 2021 entourage without playing. But the closing stages of the URC fall into that grey zone between the hurt and devastation of the Champions Cup semi-final and the prestige of the trip to Australia, and for others, Ireland's summer Tests against Georgia and Portugal. Leaving the blowout against a quarter-hearted Zebre aside, the performances of the team in wins over Glasgow and Scarlets have been widely criticised; Leinster just don't look themselves. Balls are dropping, unnecessary passes are attempted, discipline is poor and the much-vaunted defence is being breached. They might just be trying too hard but, as Cullen said last weekend, this shouldn't be a "drudge". He was asked if he felt the Lions factor wasn't playing on the minds of his stars, some of whom are unlikely to tour again and 11 of whom already have URC medals, or iterations of, in their back pockets. "It was addressed and we moved forward and everyone is focussed," the head coach told RTÉ Sport. Did he feel it had to be? "Well, I just think it is one of those things, there is all sorts of distractions, it is not specific to that, there is other things that are going on at the moment. "There was an Irish squad picked the middle of this week as well. "There is all those things there as well but we just need to stay focussed on what we need to focus on. "At this time of year it's putting in a big performance for lots of reasons. "Every player out there will have something else that will be motivating so we have been well supported over the year and we want to put in that performance in a home game. "It will be the last game in the Aviva with Leinster regardless of what happens, so we will try and do everything we can to keep the season alive for another week." After urging fans to get onboard, to get excited about knockout rugby and the prospect of a first trophy since 2021, Cullen (above) could have done without the weather gods going against him, too. It's set to be a wet day in Dublin and, as of early yesterday afternoon, ticket sales were closing in on 15,000. The Wicklow man, in charge at the club since 2015, says he hopes the team are able to put in action the lessons learned from the scrappy 33-21 win over Scarlets, and more importantly, the 37-34 loss to Northampton. The 47 year-old said: "There's a little bit around the conditions as well. "If you think there was a fair old downpour leading into the [Scarlets] game and even at half-time as well, and there's rain due [today]. "You've got to be able to manage some of that at this time of year, because the games are different. "It's knockout games, particularly the way teams come and play against us. They're not playing a huge amount of multi-phase rugby, strong kicking games. "You have to be able to adapt on the day. But the conditions play a big part for sure. We didn't have a dry day last week. "You'd certainly hope [we've learned our lessons], particularly when you get burned by an occasion, for sure, because we've had positive play-off games where we've racked up big scores on dry days and conceded no points but it didn't ultimately help. "So, you'd prefer two 6-3 wins if it meant you were going to win semi-finals. "There's always a bit of learnings that go on there but none of us know exactly what way it will unfold. "That's the pressure of knockout games."
The 42
3 hours ago
- The 42
Leinster want excitement but Glasgow can make it a nervy day at the Aviva
IT'S STRANGE TO watch a team come through a high-stakes knock-out game where much of the post-match focuses on the perceived sense of apathy around it all. This was the experience of covering Leinster's URC quarter-final defeat of Scarlets seven days ago. The sticking point was the attendance figure of 12,879 – by no means a miserable crowd, but certainly one which feels miserable when housed inside a near-52,000 capacity stadium. Leo Cullen's post-match pleas for the club to collectively feel 'excitement' about reaching another semi-final today [v Glasgow, KO 2.45pm, RTÉ 2/Premier Sports/URC TV] and for fans to 'please turn out in force' at the Aviva Stadium brought a somewhat bizarre end to the occasion. It's an unusual place for a club to find themselves when two games out from potentially lifting a trophy. But how excited should those Leinster fans actually feel? On the face of it this should be sizing up as a massive few weeks. Leinster have not won the URC since the competition was rebranded and their last trophy came four years ago – a Pro14 final win over Munster, played behind closed doors at the RDS due to the pandemic. The opportunity to see this group of players lift silverware should be all the excitement needed, with the bonus of potentially watching them do that on home soil in Dublin an added incentive. Yet there is no escaping the feeling the URC is very much a secondary prize to the Champions Cup, a competition Leinster have become increasingly obsessed with capturing again since last doing so in 2018. Advertisement Less than 13,000 were in attendance for last week's quarter-final. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO The province themselves have played a central part in this. Players have spoken about the Champions Cup being the competition they judge themselves off. It's also been illustrated in how Leinster have managed their seasons. Think back to the 2023 URC semi-final, where a Munster side desperate for a trophy capitalised as Leinster kept a host of frontliners on ice, given the game fell a week before their Champions Cup final date with La Rochelle. Even this season, where there has appeared to be a greater desire to get over the line in the URC, the big hitters have been largely held back for European Cup action. The real prize. Captain Caelan Doris featured in four URC games before injury ended his season last month. Before last weekend, Jamison Gibson-Park had started four URC games across the campaign, the most recent of which came back in October. Sam Prendergast started five of the 18 regular-season URC games. Andrew Porter had featured in eight, starting three. Hugo Keenan played in five (all starts), Josh van der Flier six (five starts). The list goes on. Leinster are right to be aiming high and being clear in their desire to win the Champions Cup, but perhaps a better balance could be struck. The timing of the two competitions' run-ins is also damaging, with the Champions Cup semi-final loss to Northampton Saints always going to take the enthusiasm out of the URC knock-outs. Leinster will have an improved crowd at the Aviva today, hoping to hit the 15,000 mark, but the upper tier will remain closed (as was always the plan). It should also be noted this is not too far off what Leinster typically attract for these games: 9,346 for a 2022 quarter-final v Glasgow at the RDS, 11,565 for the resulting semi-final v the Bulls, 14,642 for the May 2023 quarter against the Sharks at the Aviva, over 26,000 for the Aviva semi-final loss to Munster, and 18,000 for a June 2024 quarter-final against Ulster at the Aviva. Yet it all comes in the context of the massive crowds Leinster have been able to attract over recent seasons. The province have typically been excellent at generating interest in their big home games – selling out Croke Park twice over the last year, bringing 55,000 fans there for the Champions Cup clash with Harlequins and regularly drawing large crowds to the Aviva for European games. Tommy O'Brien returns to the Leinster team today. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO The elongated rugby season doesn't help, but it will be interesting to see what type of numbers Leinster could attract should they reach the URC final, which would be held in Croke Park against South African opposition (either the Bulls or Sharks) this day next week. Not that their passage to that final is by any means a given. Leinster cannot expect to face the Glasgow team so comprehensively dismissed in their Champions Cup meeting earlier this year, nor the one that came up short at the Aviva just a few weeks ago. The defending URC champions will come to Dublin sensing opportunity and carrying the momentum of their impressive last-eight win against the Stormers. With only 34% of the territory, Glasgow hit for five tries and a total of 36 points, clocking up 17 clean breaks and 40 defenders beaten. They are punchy, incisive and inventive in attack. This is best epitomised in their brilliant centre Sione Tuipulotu, who shifts to the 13 jersey today, and is hitting form right in time for the Lions tour after an injury-disrupted season. And Leinster are clearly not firing on all cylinders. Their defence was sloppy against Scarlets and their attack struggled for cohesion, while still piecing together some wonderfully-worked tries. Garry Ringrose remains absent, Josh van der Flier misses out with injury while Hugo Keenan also drops out of the 23. The knock-on effect is three changes to the starting XV: Tommy O'Brien on the wing as Jimmy O'Brien moves to fullback, Dan Sheehan coming in at hooker following his game-changing impact off the bench, and Scott Penny replacing Van der Flier at openside. Throw in the absences of Caelan Doris, Tadhg Furlong and Robbie Henshaw, and there's a core of senior players watching this one from the sidelines. Leinster should still have enough to book their place in next week's final, but the margin for error has narrowed again. LEINSTER: Jimmy O'Brien; Tommy O'Brien, Jamie Osborne, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Ryan Baird, Scott Penny, Jack Conan (capt). Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Ciarán Frawley. GLASGOW: Josh McKay; Kyle Steyn (capt), Sione Tuipulotu, Tom Jordan, Kyle Rowe, Adam Hastings, George Horne; Jamie Bhatti, Gregor Hiddleston, Fin Richardson; Alex Samuel, Scott Cummings; Euan Ferrie, Rory Darge, Henco Venter. Replacements: Johnny Matthews, Rory Sutherland, Sam Talakai, Max Williamson, Jack Mann, Macenzzie Duncan, Stafford McDowall, Jamie Dobie. Referee: Andrea Piardi [FIR]
