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Will Connors starts for Leinster against La Rochelle

Will Connors started against La Rochelle in the pool meeting
Will Connors started against La Rochelle in the pool meeting

Leinster have made two changes to their team for Saturday's Investec Champions Cup clash against La Rochelle with Will Connors and Jason Jenkins coming into the side.

Josh van der Flier and Ross Molony drop to the bench for tomorrow's quarter-final at the Aviva Stadium (5.30pm, live on RTÉ), a repeat of the last two finals, which La Rochelle won.

The rest of the team is unchanged from the starting XV that beat Leicester Tigers last weekend, while Luke McGrath and Michael Milne replace Ben Murphy and Cian Healy on the bench.

Hugo Keenan starts at full-back with Jordan Larmour and James Lowe named on the wing.

Robbie Henshaw and Jamie Osborne form the centre partnership once more, with Ross Byrne and Jamison Gibson-Park linking up at half-back.

In the pack, Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong are in the front row, with Joe McCarthy and Jenkins in the second row.

Connors plays in Europe for the first time since the opening round win against La Rochelle in December. He is joined in the back row by Ryan Baird and Doris.

Meanwhile, La Rochelle boss Ronan O'Gara has made one change to the team that scraped past Stormers with Teddy Thomas starting on the wing and Dillyn Leyds switching to full-back in place of Brice Dulin.


Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Jordan Larmour, Robbie Henshaw, Jamie Osborne, James Lowe; Ross Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, Jason Jenkins; Ryan Baird, Will Connors, Caelan Doris (capt).

Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Michael Milne, Michael Ala'alatoa, Ross Molony, Jack Conan, Luke McGrath, Ciarán Frawley, Josh van der Flier.

La Rochelle: Dillyn Leyds; Jack Nowell, UJ Seuteni, Jonathan Danty, Teddy Thomas; Antoine Hastoy, Tawera Kerr-Barlow; Louis Penverne, Tolu Latu, Uini Atonio; Ultan Dillane, Will Skelton; Judicael Cancoriet, Levani Botia, Greg Alldritt (capt).

Replacements: Quentin Lespiaucq-Brettes, Alexandre Kaddouri, Joel Sclavi, Thomas Lavault, Paul Boudehent, Yoan Tanga, Teddy Iribaren, Ihaia West.

Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Watch Leinster v La Rochelle in the Investec Champions Cup quarter-finals on Saturday from 5pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.

Listen to live commentary Leinster v La Rochelle and Ireland v Wales in the Guinness Women's Six Nations from on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport, and follow live blogs of both on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.

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