{"id":356691,"date":"2026-03-20T20:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T20:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/356691\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T20:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T20:30:14","slug":"leinster-out-to-make-move-at-top-of-the-urc-table-as-they-take-on-leaders-glasgow-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/356691\/","title":{"rendered":"Leinster out to make move at top of the URC table as they take on leaders Glasgow \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

URC: Glasgow Warriors v Leinster, Scotstoun, Saturday, 5.30pm \u2013 Live on Premier Sports 1<\/p>\n

The pity is, in some ways, that this latest Scottish-Irish head-to-head comes in the immediate and perhaps anticlimactic wake of the epic 2026 Six Nations<\/a> and last Saturday\u2019s Triple Crown shoot-out. Nevertheless, this clash between the champions of the last two seasons could well have significant repercussions in the knock-out stages.<\/p>\n

Each of these teams generated huge momentum with winning runs going into the last round of matches of nine for Glasgow and 11 for Leinster<\/a> in both competitions, so much so that this could be a precursor to another potential meeting in Glasgow at the semi-final stages of the Champions Cup<\/a> should both make their seedings tell.<\/p>\n

But both of them are also looking to rebound from seeing those long winning runs come to an end in their last outings three weeks ago when Glasgow lost in the game\u2019s last play away to Connacht and Leinster were beaten 8-7 in a forgettable and rain-sodden encounter in Cardiff.<\/p>\n

\"\"Are Ireland trending in the right direction? What we learned from their Six Nations campaign<\/p>\n

Glasgow remain leaders but that defeat has had a concertina effect on the top of the table, with Leinster down to fourth but just four points behind the Warriors.<\/p>\n

Leo Cullen<\/a> has responded by making nine changes to Leinster\u2019s starting XV, including the return of Hugo Keenan for his long-waited seasonal reappearance. The 29-year-old fullback has not played since playing every minute of the Lions series against Australia when scoring the match-winning try in the second Test in Melbourne. Having undergone surgery for a long-running hip issue, this was compounded by a fractured thumb while training with Ireland ahead of the Six Nations.<\/p>\n

R\u00f3nan Kelleher and Jack Conan come straight into the team following their involvement in the Aviva last week, as do fellow Irish squad members Sam Prendergast and Thomas Clarkson. Luke McGrath is restored at scrumhalf to captain the side in his 249th appearance, as is RG Snyman and Will Connors, while 20-year-old loosehead Alex Usanov will make his first start. Jimmy O\u2019Brien shifts from fullback to left wing, as Robbie Henshaw and Reiko Ioane continue in midfield.<\/p>\n

The squad is also boosted by the return of Ciar\u00e1n Frawley, a try-scorer in Ireland\u2019s win over Scotland last Saturday, and his inclusion among the replacements has resulted in Cullen resorting to a 6-2 split.<\/p>\n

John McKee, Jerry Cahir, Rabah Slimani, Max Deegan, Scott Penny and Fintan Gunne all revert to the bench, which also features Conor O\u2019Tighearnaigh.<\/p>\n

\"formerformer Scotland Under-20s captain Johnny Ventisei will make his Glasgow debut at outside centre. Photograph: Tom O\u2019Hanlon\/Inpho <\/p>\n

For his part, Glasgow coach Franco Smith makes eight changes to his starting line-up, as lock Alex Craig, scrumhalf George Horne and winger Kyle Rowe all return to the starting line-up after appearances off the bench in the Aviva last weekend.<\/p>\n

In addition to some rotation in the frontrow and backrow, Fin Richardson returns from injury to start at loosehead, while the former Scotland Under-20s captain Johnny Ventisei will make his Glasgow debut at outside centre.<\/p>\n

The Warriors have lost just twice at home in any competition since December 2023, although they\u2019ve only once beaten Leinster in their last seven meetings, by 43-25 here in October 2023.<\/p>\n

GLASGOW: Josh McKay; Kyle Rowe, Johnny Ventisei, Stafford McDowall, Ollie Smith; Dan Lancaster, George Horne; Patrick Schickerling, Gregor Hiddleston, Fin Richardson; Alex Craig, Alex Samuel; Euan Ferrie, Sione Vailanu, Macenzie Duncan.<\/p>\n

Replacements: Seb Stephen, Rory Sutherland, Sam Talakia, Olujare Ogumtibeju, Ally Miller, Angus Fraser, Jack Oliver, Adam Hastings. <\/p>\n

LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan; Joshua Kenny, Rieko Ioane, Robbie Henshaw, Jimmy O\u2019Brien; Sam Prendergast, Luke McGrath (capt); Alex Usanov, R\u00f3nan Kelleher, Thomas Clarkson; RG Snyman, Brian Deeny; Jack Conan, Will Connors, James Culhane.<\/p>\n

Replacements: John McKee, Jerry Cahir, Rabah Slimani, Conor O\u2019Tighearnaigh, Max Deegan, Scott Penny, Fintan Gunne, Ciar\u00e1n Frawley.<\/p>\n

Referee: Adam Jones (WRU).<\/p>\n

Forecast: Leinster to win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"URC: Glasgow Warriors v Leinster, Scotstoun, Saturday, 5.30pm \u2013 Live on Premier Sports 1 The pity is, in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,11287,112,14881],"class_list":["post-356691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-leinster-rugby","tag-sports","tag-united-rugby-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}