Rob Kearney back for Leinster against settled Glasgow

David Skippers
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Leinster will be aiming to defend their PRO14 title when they take on Glasgow Warriors in this season’s final at Celtic Park on Saturday.

Glasgow Warriors head coach Dave Rennie has named an unchanged starting XV for the mouth-watering game.

Rennie has stuck with the side that beat Ulster 50-20 at Scostoun in the semi-final last Friday, the inclusion of Siua Halanukonuka on the bench the only change to the matchday 23.

Stuart Hogg will play his last game for the club, starting in a back-three with DTH van der Merwe who has scored in his two previous appearances in PRO14 finals and Tommy Seymour who scored a brace of tries against Ulster seven days ago.

Sam Johnson and Kyle Steyn start outside of Ali Price and Adam Hastings, Steyn and Price also both crossed the whitewash last Friday.

It’s a full Scotland international front-row, Jamie Bhatti and Zander Fagerson starting either side of Fraser Brown.

Scott Cummings and Jonny Gray pack down together again in the second-row, while in the back-row Rob Harley and Matt Fagerson start alongside captain Callum Gibbins.

Pete Horne’s inclusion on the bench makes it eight players in the squad who featured in Glasgow’s successful 2015 Final in Belfast.

“We’re excited to represent our City and our families at what is going to be an amazing occasion for Glasgow,” said Rennie.

“The noise that 10,000 people make in Scotstoun is deafening, so to play in front of more than 40,000 of our supporters is going to be a special experience.

“Leinster are a world class side with hardened finals experience, so we’re going to have to play better than we have all season to lift the trophy.”

Meanwhile, Rob Kearney comes in at full-back for Leinster with Jordan Larmour moving to the right wing and James Lowe continuing on the left.

Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose are again in the centre with Luke McGrath and captain Johnny Sexton the half-backs.

In the pack Cian Healy, Seán Cronin and Tadhg Furlong start with Scott Fardy and James Ryan in the second-row behind them.

The back-row sees vice-captain Rhys Ruddock start at blindside flanker with Josh van der Flier on the openside and Jack Conan at number eight.

The teams:

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Kyle Steyn, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Ali Price, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Callum Gibbins (c), 6 Rob Harley, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Jamie Bhatti
Replacements: 16 Grant Stewart, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Siua Halnukonuka, 19 Ryan Wilson, 20 Tom Gordon, 21 George Horne, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Huw Jones

Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe, 10 Johnny Sexton (c), 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 James Ryan, 4 Scott Fardy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Seán Cronin, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Ed Byrne, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Nick McCarthy, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Rory O’Loughlin

Date: Saturday, May 25
Venue: Celtic Park
Kick-off: 18:30 BST (17:30 GMT)
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees: John Lacey (Ireland), Mike Adamson (Scotland)
TMO: Ian Davies (Wales)

Glasgow Warriors