Champions Cup final: 10 things you really should know Match details, team news, how to watch, and the big talking points for Leinster v Racing 92

in #rugby7 years ago

State of Play

Saturday’s Champions Cup final between Leinster and Racing 92 will be held at the rebuilt 53,000-seater San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao. This is the first time a country without a participating team in the competition will host the decider. Kick-off is at 4.45pm Irish time.

Leinster qualified for the final after topping their pool with six wins from six, most impressive of all an 18-8 win over reigning English Premiership winners Exeter at Sandy Park . They then put 30 points past reigning champions Saracens in the Aviva, before beating last season’s Pro12 winners Scarlets by 22 points.

Racing 92 meanwhile finished second in their pool to Munster, after losing away to Castres and at Thomond Park. They then beat Clermont Auvergne 17-28 in an all-French quarter-final at Stade Marcel-Michelin, before a strong start saw them overcome Munster by five points in Bordeaux to reach the final.

How to watch

The match will be shown live on BT Sport and Sky Sports, with coverage getting underway at 4pm on Sky Sports Action and at the same time on BT Sport 2. You can also follow our live blog on https://www.irishtimes.com/sport.

As for getting there? A very limited number of tickets remain on public sale here.

Team of Us

The two teams will be named on Friday, but according to John O’Sullivan and Gavin Cummiskey, Jordan Larmour is set to start with James Lowe expected to miss out on the matchday squad altogether. Because of ongoing concerns relating to Luke McGrath’s ankle injury, Jamison Gibson-Park will be included in the replacements and Leinster are only permitted two foreign players under the tournament rules.

Leinster (possible): R Kearney; J Larmour, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, I Nacewa (capt); J Sexton, L McGrath; C Healy, S Cronin, T Furlong; D Toner, J Ryan; S Fardy, D Leavy, J Murphy. Replacements: J Tracy, J McGrath, A Porter, R Molony/R Ruddock, J Conan, J Gibson-Park, J Carbery, R O’Loughlin.

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