{"id":561652,"date":"2026-05-02T02:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T02:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/561652\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T02:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T02:06:13","slug":"bath-ben-spencer-returns-to-face-bordeaux-begles-in-champions-cup-semi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/561652\/","title":{"rendered":"Bath: Ben Spencer returns to face Bordeaux-Begles in Champions Cup semi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew Porter returns at loose-head prop to shore up Leinster’s front row in Saturday’s semi-final against Toulon at the Aviva Stadium.<\/p>\n

Porter hasn’t played since picking up an injury in the last-16 win over Edinburgh at the start of April.<\/p>\n

However, fellow Ireland international Tadhg Furlong is missing after limping out of the defeat by Benetton at the weekend, with Tom Clarkson coming in at tight-head.<\/p>\n

Joe McCarthy and James Ryan are paired in the second row, while Harry Byrne steers the side from fly-half and All Black Rieko Ioane is on the wing.<\/p>\n

Toulon include former England prop Kyle Sinckler and Scotland scrum-half Ben White in their starting line-up, with Junior Kpoku, who won the under-20 World Cup with England’s age-grade side in 2024<\/a>, earning the nod at blindside flanker.<\/p>\n

South African-born second row David Ribbans, who won 11 England caps between 2022 and 2023, captains the side.<\/p>\n

Leinster: Keenan; O’Brien, Ringrose, Henshaw, Ioane; Byrne, Gibson-Park; Porter, Sheehan, Clarkson, McCarthy, Ryan, Conan, Van der Flier, Doris (c)<\/p>\n

Replacements: Kelleher, Cahir, Slimani, Soroka, Penny, McGrath, Prendergast, Osborne<\/p>\n

Toulon: Jaminet; Drean, Brex, Sinzelle, Tuicuvu; Albornoz, White; Gros, Baubigny, Sinckler, Mezou, Ribbans (c), Kpoku, Ollivon, Shioshvili<\/p>\n

Replacements: Lucchesi, Brennan, Gigashvili, Halagahu, Mercer, Serin, Abadie, Ferte<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew Porter returns at loose-head prop to shore up Leinster’s front row in Saturday’s semi-final against Toulon at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-561652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}