![\"13](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/002413d4-614.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nJames Lowe will make his 100th appearance for Leinster in Saturday’s BKT United Rugby Championship quarter-final with the Lions, with Leo Cullen making eight changes from last week’s Champions Cup final defeat.<\/p>\n
Lowe, Leinster’s joint-record try-scorer, is currently level on 69 tries with Shane Horgan.<\/p>\n
The Ireland international, who is yet to agree a contract extension for next season, starts on the left wing, having missed out on selection in Bilbao last week.<\/p>\n
Sam Prendergast comes in to start in the 10 jersey, with Harry Byrne on the bench, as Ciar\u00e1n Frawley misses out despite an impressive performance off the bench against Bordeaux-Begles last Saturday.<\/p>\n
Five of the changes come in the backline, with Luke McGrath partnering Prendergast behind the scrum and Jimmy O’Brien returning to the right wing.<\/p>\n
Jamie Osborne comes in for Robbie Henshaw at inside centre, with Rieko Ioane moving from wing to the 13 shirt, as Garry Ringrose drops out.<\/p>\n
Ioane and Hugo Keenan are the two backs to retain their starting places.<\/p>\n
Tadhg Furlong comes in at tighthead, with Thomas Clarkson dropping to the bench, as Andrew Porter and Dan Sheehan continue in the front row.<\/p>\n
James Ryan and Joe McCarthy pack down in the second row, with Caelan Doris captaining the team at number 8.<\/p>\n
Max Deegan and Scott Penny both come in at flanker, as Josh van der Flier moves to the bench.<\/p>\n
Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Jimmy O’Brien, Rieko Ioane, Jamie Osborne, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Luke McGrath; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Max Deegan, Scott Penny, Caelan Doris (capt).<\/p>\n
Replacements: Gus McCarthy, Alex Usanov, Thomas Clarkson, Diarmuid Mangan, Josh van der Flier, Jamison Gibson-Park, Harry Byrne, Robbie Henshaw.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Connacht have been dealt a blow ahead of their quarter-final against Glasgow Warriors on Friday, with influential number 8 Sean Jansen (above) ruled out due to injury.<\/p>\n
Jansen, whose 10 tries in the URC this season have helped the province secure their pay-off spot, misses out due to a knee injury picked up in the Round 18 win away to Edinburgh.<\/p>\n
Paul Boyle replaces the Irish-qualified New Zealander in the back row for Saturday’s clash at Scotstoun, among five changes to Stuart Lancaster’s side.<\/p>\n
In better news, Dylan Tierney-Martin and Darragh Murray have both been cleared to return.<\/p>\n
Tierney-Martin comes in at hooker, with Sam Illo replacing Finlay Bealham at tighthead and Billy Bohan continuing at loosehead.<\/p>\n
Murray partners Josh Murphy in the second row, with Joe Joyce making way.<\/p>\n
Boyle packs down at number 8, between captain Cian Prendergast and Shamus Hurley-Langton.<\/p>\n
There’s just one change to the backline, where John Devine starts at outside centre alongside Bundee Aki, with Harry West ruled out with a knock.<\/p>\n
Ben Murphy and Josh Ioane make up the half-backs, with Shayne Bolton and Shane Jennings on the wings, and New Zealander Sam Gilbert marshalling the backfield at full-back.<\/p>\n
Connacht: Sam Gilbert; Shane Jennings, John Devine, Bundee Aki, Shayne Bolton; Josh Ioane, Ben Murphy; Billy Bohan, Dylan Tierney-Martin, Sam Illo; Josh Murphy, Darragh Murray; Cian Prendergast (capt), Shamus Hurley-Langton, Paul Boyle.<\/p>\n
Replacements: Dave Heffernan, Peter Dooley, Finlay Bealham, Joe Joyce, Sean O’Brien, Matthew Devine, Hugh Gavin, Sean Naughton.<\/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 Glasgow Warriors v Connacht, Bulls v Munster and Leinster v Lions on RT\u00c9.ie\/sport and RT\u00c9 News app.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Lowe will make his 100th appearance for Leinster in Saturday’s BKT United Rugby Championship quarter-final with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-471321","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\/471321","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=471321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}