Key events
“We’ve struggled with a few injuries,” Alex Mitchell tells Premier Sports of the Saints’ season. “Our performance have been up and down. It’s been a frustrating season but we are pushing back up the table … in the Champions Cup we’ve been fantastic.
“We like to move the ball, play with tempo and score tries … I’ve loved being back [from injury] and I try and get Northampton to tick. I look for spaces on the edge, fish for defenders, try and get someone to bite and then put someone else through a hole.
On Henry Pollock: “I personally love him, it’s good to have a bit of personality … he’s a really nice lad at heart. It’s great to have that energy and that buzz, especially from a younger player … he’s backing it up and playing well.”
Australia’s women’s side, AKA the Wallaroos, defeated their Fijian counterparts overnight. Angus Fontaine has the story:
“The Wallaroos have sent a warning shot to the world with a powerful 43-7 victory over Fiji in Suva to give coach Jo Yapp’s new-look Australian side a welcome jolt of confidence as they prepare for the Rugby World Cup in England this August.”
Hugo Keenan at full-back, Garry Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw in the centres, James Lowe for Leinster … there is world-class quality everywhere.
In more punditry news, Kearney believes that Fin Smith has the kicking game to punch a few holes in the Leinster blitz defence.
Jordie Barrett on the Leinster bench? Ludicrous. Caelan Doris and Josh Van der Flier in the back row, RG Snyman at lock, Dan Sheehan in the front row. Stop it!
Henry Pollock has had a big year too, of course.
Gerard Meagher spoke to him:
I’d have to agree with Dallaglio. No question that Northampton can hurt Leinster in attack – there aren’t many better combinations than Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith at No 9 and No 10. But can the Saints forwards earn the necessary platform?
Team news
Just the 14 changes for Leinster. Cian Healy is the only player still in the starting lineup from their previous URC match. The some-time England full-back George Furbank misses out for Northampton with an arm injury, which is a big miss. Trevor Davison comes into the front row in the only change to Phil Dowson’s lineup after the Premiership win against Bristol last weekend.
Leinster: Keenan; O’Brien, Ringrose, Henshaw, Lowe; Prendergast, Gibson-Park; Healy, Sheehan, Furlong, Snyman, McCarthy, Deegan, Van der Flier, Doris (capt.). Replacements: Kelleher, Porter, Slimani, Baird, Conan, McGrath, R Byrne, Barrett.
Northampton Saints: Ramm; Freeman, Dingwall (capt.), Hutchinson, Litchfield; Smith, Mitchell; Iyogun, Langdon, Davison, Mayanavanua, Coles, Kemeny, Pollock, Augustus. Replacements: Walker, West, Millar Mills, Lockett, Munga, Scott-Young, James, Seabrook.
Referee: Pierre Brousset (Fra)
Rob Kearney says the Aviva Stadium venue is an unfair advantage for Leinster. Thoughts? Why not email me.
“Northampton can win,” says Lawrence Dallaglio. “They’ve got quality in their team. But the big challenge for me is up front … have they got the bottle, what it takes up front? Can they survive the intensity from Leinster? If they can do that they can win.
“Northampton have got to be 100%,” chips in the Bristol Bears head coach, Pat Lam, on pundit duty. “Lineout lifters, ball carriers presenting the way it should be … domination on defence … making sure when you see Ringrose and Henshaw flying that you’re close enough … not for one minute, for 80 minutes.”
“It’s a different Leinster team,” Rob Kearney says on Premier Sports. “They’ve had the heartache of the last few years, so there is more pressure on them … they have reinforcements … this is as good a chance as they’ve had in the past few years.
“You don’t want to put too much pressure on one team. But it has to be this year, for this Leinster team.”
Preamble
Encore une fois. For the second year running the Champions Cup has thrown up a Leinster v Northampton semi-final hosted by the Irish province. A James Lowe hat-trick appeared to have sealed the deal for Leinster last year – and ultimately it did – but a late Saints fightback in the final quarter after an error-strewn start saw them go down by just three points.
Northampton’s domestic form has been erratic, to say the least, and they find themselves seventh in the Premiership having lost eight of 15 matches. It was always likely they’d miss Courtney Lawes and Lewis Ludlam, both now playing in France, but no one predicted they would be quite so off the pace.
Leinster, meanwhile, top the United Rugby Championship table and are heavy favourites to progress from here to yet another final against French opposition: they were defeated by La Rochelle twice, in 2022 and 2023, before falling to Toulouse at Tottenham Stadium last season. Bordeaux or Toulouse will await today’s victors in Cardiff later this month. Will it be deja vu all over again? As far as today’s semi-final is concerned, it already is.
Kick-off: 5.30pm
