Tommy O’Brien has been passed fit for Leinster\u2019s Investec Champions Cup final with Bordeaux-Begles in Bilbao, while James Lowe has missed out on the matchday 23.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien has recovered from a minor injury to start on the right wing at San Mames Stadium, with All Black Rieko Ioane continuing on the left, as Leo Cullen picks the same XV that started the semi-final win against Toulon.<\/p>\n
With Jamie Osborne covering the outside-back spot on the bench, it means Lowe misses out on selection after returning from injury last week.<\/p>\n
As expected, Paddy McCarthy has also been cleared to play, and will offer Leinster a significant boost off the bench.<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old hasn\u2019t played since suffering a foot injury in the pool stage win against La Rochelle in January, but comes straight into the squad for this week\u2019s final, with Tadhg Furlong also among the replacements.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow\u2019s final will be played in the peak daytime heat, with temperatures expected to his 30C for the 2.45pm (Irish time) kick-off.<\/p>\n
Thomas Clarkson\u2019s recent form earns him the starting tighthead spot, joining Dan Sheehan and Andrew Porter in the in the front row, with James Ryan and Joe McCarthy at lock.<\/p>\n
Caelan Doris captains the side at number 8, flanked by Jack Conan and Josh van der Flier.<\/p>\n
Jamison Gibson-Park and Harry Byrne line up in the half-backs, with Luke McGrath and Ciar\u00e1n Frawley in reserve, as Sam Prendergast misses out.<\/p>\n
Cullen has gone for experience in the centre, with Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose starting together, just as they did in the 2018 final at San Mames.<\/p>\n
Ioane and O\u2019Brien take the wing spots, with Hugo Keenan at full-back.<\/p>\n
While it’s the same starting XV from that win against Toulon, R\u00f3nan Kelleher, Luke McGrath and Jamie Osborne are the only replacements who have been retained from the 29-25 victory, with McCarthy, Furlong, Diarmuid Mangan, Max Deegan and Frawley all drafted in.<\/p>\n
Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Tommy O’Brien, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Rieko Ioane; Harry Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tom Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).<\/p>\n
Replacements: R\u00f3nan Kelleher, Paddy McCarthy, Tadhg Furlong, Diarmuid Mangan, Max Deegan, Luke McGrath, Ciar\u00e1n Frawley, Jamie Osborne.<\/p>\n
UBB: Salesi Rayasi; Pablo Uberti, Damian Penaud, Yoram Moefana, Louis Bielle-Biarrey; Matthieu Jalibert, Maxime Lucu (capt); Jefferson Poirot, Maxime Lamothe, Carl\u00fc Sadie; Boris Palu, Adam Coleman; Pierre Bochaton, Cameron Woki, Marko Gazzotti.<\/p>\n
Replacements: Gaetan Barlot, Ugo Boniface, Ben Tameifuna, Lachie Swinton, Temo Matiu, Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, Arthur Retiere, Hugo Reus.<\/p>\n
Listen to the RT\u00c9 Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a> or wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>, and email us at sportpodcasts@rte.ie<\/p>\n \n Follow a live blog of Ulster v Montpellier in the Challenge Cup final (Friday, 8pm) and Leinster v Bordeaux-Begles in the Champions Cup final (Saturday, 2.45pm) on RT\u00c9.ie\/sport and RT\u00c9 News app.<\/p>\n Listen to live commentary of the Champions Cup final on Saturday Sport on RT\u00c9 Radio 1. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tommy O’Brien has been passed fit for Leinster\u2019s Investec Champions Cup final with Bordeaux-Begles in Bilbao, while James…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-461728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461728","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=461728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}