Leinster Rugby vs Racing 92
Heineken Champions Cup Round 4 Pool A
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Saturday, 21st January 2023, 15:15

TV: Live: BT Sports/RTE

It's time for the traditional Christmas Aviva game!!! In January!

To be fair, Gloucester at home in December would have been a hard sell and it would have been especially grim watching Leinster take on their B side in a half empty stadium. So it was understandable that Leinster plumped for the Racing game in the Aviva even if it meant losing the pre-Christmas crowd.

Apparently ticket sales have been decent, but that said, the Leinster bean-counters were probably sweating towards the end of the Racing v Harlequins match last Sunday. If Racing lost, their chances of qualification would have been virtually gone and they would have sent the espoirs^{TM (Gerry Thornley)} on Saturday. This would hit the prospect of added ticket sales after Racing announced their star-studded lineup. Those bean-counters would have probably dared to pop open the champers when Racing took a 21-3 lead early in the second half. But no one loves a comeback more than this Harlequins side and they scored four second-half tries to take a 30-28 lead with minutes to go. Racing's reaction to the Quins comeback was...not great. Basically their discipline collapsed to an almost comical level to the point where they had only twelve men on the pitch with five minutes left.

By then the Leinster bean-counters may have swapped the champers for desperate shots of manky Jim Beam as the beads of sweat curdled in their Charles Tyrwhitt shirts. However Harlequins let them and Racing off the hook by playing the last five minutes in an idiotic manner. They first gave away a penalty to let Racing reclaim the lead and then threw away possession when in a great attacking position. It was a ridiculously entertaining game though and Racing have potential to be dangerously entertaining again tomorrow afternoon led by their ridiculous talisman.

Finn Russell is not a number 10 you want if you're a team with serious ambition to win something. He's off to Bath at the end of the season to continue to cheerfully and profitably fail. Bruce Craig is apparently paying him a small fortune to play for that doyen of attacking rugby Johann van Graan. That relationship could have Russell pining for the warmth of Gregor Townsend. Before he decamps though, Russell has the chance to play a few more fun games with his Paris mates. Russell plays in the manner of a player who's called in at the last minute to play an end of season sevens tournament when he's already sculled a few pints on the sly. He chucks the ball around, has a few laughs and by the end of the game doesn't give a damn about (or possibly doesn't even know) the score. It's an attitude that's made him a media darling and in fairness he can be a fun player to watch if you're a neutral.

However, for once, his general attitude could suit Racing's purposes tomorrow. If they are to get anything from tomorrow then running everything and chucking mad offloads might give them as good a chance as any. It's not like Racing don't have plenty of pace and talent out wide in the likes of Warrick Gelant, Christian Wade and Gael Fickou. Racing head coach Laurent Travers seems to be hedging his bets a little with his selection for tomorrow. It's not a weak team by any means and the massive Trevor Nyakane will be coming after Leinster in the scrum, but it's not quite as strong as it could have been either.

Leinster kept things motoring nicely last week with another high-scoring away win to keep on pace to be top seeds. They had a great start with some dazzling set-piece moves although there was sloppiness at the rucks in the second half and once again the scrum had issues. Leo Cullen has made just three changes, all in the pack, as Ronan Kelleher, Joe McCarthy and Jack Conan are rotated in to start. Scott Penny is named on the bench where they're a 6-2 split towards the forwards. Penny will make his 50th Leinster appearance but remarkably it will be his European debut.

Racing will give it a go and it could well be an entertaining match but Leinster should have enough to win and clinch top seeds to ensure they won't have to travel out of Dublin for the rest of the tournament.

by Jim O'Connor, © 2023-01-20