Opportunity knocks for Byrne brothers as Leinster ring the changes
Pic: Ross Byrne Nick Half Leinster Out Elliott/inpho
Ross Byrne gets what has become a rare chance to to impress as starting No.10 this evening with Leinster head coach Leo Cullen urging a massively changed team to take the opportunity afforded to them against their neighbours.
The head coach has made 13 changes to his starting XV for the visit of Connacht to Dublin with 15 Ireland internationals either rested or unavailable through injury and the likes of Cian Healy, Ryan Baird and Jamison Gibson-Park providing ammo off the bench.
Five academy players are sprinkled through the starting side against a visiting side that comes locked and loaded with Josh Ioane back at out-half and the Ireland trio of Finlay Bealham, Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen all in for the first time since the November Tests.
“Get out there and play well, fellas,” said Cullen. “That’s what we want to see.”
There is plenty of class still oozing through the somewhat diluted Leinster ranks. RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett are both on duty, Jack Conan captains again from No.8 and, in the two Byrnes, they have players of experience who will be looking to make their own points.
Both Ross and Harry have been bumped down the pecking order with the rocketlike rise of Sam Prendergast – whose absence here suggests he will be on the teamsheet when Leinster visit Munster in Thomond Park next Thursday - with club and country.
The Byrne brothers are 29 and 25 respectively. Both are Ireland internationals with career ambitions and targets of their own and Cullen admits that such a turn of events can be difficult to digest for players of their station.
“Yeah, it is a challenge. That’s the thing about competition, particularly when a younger player comes through. Sam would have had different involvements last season but now he is coming in and he is starting.
“That’s the challenge for any more senior player, to get their head around a younger player coming through the system. But that is the way the system works. Nobody has any divine right to any of these selections so us as coaches try to pick on what we see on a day-to-day basis and in the games, the bit that matters the most.”
Ross Byrne has played nine times in blue this campaign but only two have been starts as Prendergast has come to assume the reins. Byrne has been linked in recent months with interest from both Montpellier and Leicester Tigers.
His younger sibling has had even less exposure, with three runs off the bench against Dragons, Munster, and Ulster amounting to just half an hour
of game time. Harry has actually seen far more action for the ‘A’ side during November.
Go back 12 months and Harry was the man of the hour. Prendergast had yet to break through then and, with Ross injured, he got the nod for the Champions Cup visit to La Rochelle and the shorter trip down to Limerick later in the month.
He starts on the bench here, and may well be needed to cover elsewhere when called into the fray given Leinster’s 6/2 bench split, but this is undeniably a URC interpro that carries added weight for the two St Michael’s men.
“Ross has been excellent,” said Cullen. “Harry, it’s been a bit more challenging and a frustrating period for him because he has had less opportunities. He played a couple of those ‘A’ games that we played, he has featured a few times off the bench.
“Ross steered the team around the field in Belfast a few weeks ago where we got a bonus-point win. In terms of managing the group he has been outstanding in what he delivers there. So it’s a great opportunity again for Ross tomorrow and hopefully, he goes well.”
Aitzol Arenzana-King, Charlie Tector, Andrew Osborne, Gus McCarthy and Diarmuid Mangan make up the quintet of academy starters. It’s not too long since Tector was a ten keeping Prendergast on the bench at underage levels.
He starts at outside-centre today having segued across from out-half this season. Add in the injured Ciaran Frawley and the Austrian whizzkid Casper Gabriel who has been fast-tracked into the academy ranks and the competition for places just at out-half is obvious.
Facing Leinster in the Aviva Stadium will be Connacht’s customary contingent of Leinster men born-and-bred who will be all the more eager to make a mark against the province that could find no home for them.
“Everyone looks for the opportunity to play games and this is an opportunity for guys,” said Cullen. “This is against a team that we have had challenges with over the years. Josh Murphy is actually a cousin of the two Byrnes so there is a very in-depth understanding of what both groups deliver.”
J O’Brien, A Arenzana-King, C Tector, J Barrett, A Osborne, R Byrne, L McGrath, J Boyle, G McCarthy, R Slimani, D Mangan, RG Snyman, A Soroka, S Penny, J Conan.
L Barron, M Milne, C Healy, B Deeny, R Baird, J Gibson-Park, H Byrne, M Deegan.
P O’Conor, M Hansen, C Forde, B Aki, S Jennings, J Ioane, B Murphy, D Buckley, D Heffernan, F Bealham, J Murphy, D Murray, C Prendergast, S Hurley-Langton, P Boyle.
D Tierney-Martin, J Duggan, J Aungier, O Dowling, S Jansen, C Blade, S Cordero, C Oliver.
C Busby (IRFU).