Scotland star Sione Tuipulotu returns to action after lengthy absence

Daire Walsh

URC: Leinster v Glasgow Warriors, Saturday, 7.35pm, live on RTÉ2 and Premier Sports 1

They enjoyed a comfortable victory when the sides last met in the same venue just a few short weeks ago, but James Ryan has stressed Leinster are anticipating a stern challenge from Glasgow Warriors at the Aviva Stadium in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday evening.

After appearing off the bench against Zebre last Saturday, Ryan has been selected in the secondrow for the visit of Glasgow to Dublin in the final round of the URC’s regular season. The Ireland international had previously been sidelined for a number of weeks and was marked absent when Leinster secured an emphatic 52-0 triumph at home to the Scottish outfit in a European Champions Cup quarter-final on April 11th.

Scotland star Sione Tuipulotu missed that game with the injury that ruled him out of this year’s Six Nations Championship, but he is named in the Warriors starting line-up for his first appearance of any description since January. While Glasgow come into this game on the back of defeats to the Bulls and Benetton, Ryan is wary of a side who are the defending URC champions and won’t want to drop below their current position of third in the competition’s league standings.

“I think they’ll be fired up. They’ve got Tuipulotu coming back in, which I’m sure will be a big boost for them. Maybe they’ve dropped a little bit in the league and there is a lot to play for now in this final weekend of the URC,” Ryan acknowledged.

“They’ll have a lot to play for coming here and I’m sure they’ll be disappointed with their performance against us way back in the Champions Cup. I think you’ll get a different Glasgow this week.”

Despite his lack of game time in recent months, Tuipulotu and his centre partner Huw Jones have been included in the British & Irish Lions squad for the forthcoming Tour of Australia alongside their clubmates Zander Fagerson (who won’t be featuring in the Aviva this evening) and Scott Cummings.

Ryan was himself among a 12-strong Leinster contingent to be selected for Lions duty last Thursday week and seven of that cohort are set to see action against Glasgow.

Although it is something for those players to look forward to, their primary focus in the coming weeks will be on winning a major piece of silverware with Leinster after three consecutive seasons of disappointment in both the URC and the Champions Cup.

Their latest quest to claim a fifth star in the latter competition was ended at the semi-final stage by Premiership Rugby outfit Northampton Saints on home soil a fortnight ago and this means the URC is now their only shot at winning a trophy in the 2024/25 season.

They are guaranteed to be playing in a home quarter-final a couple of weeks from now, but even though the eastern province are hoping to go all the way in the competition after sealing top spot in the regular season table last weekend, Ryan is trying not to think beyond the next two games.

“Of course we want to win silverware and so does everyone else. For us the focus in here is just taking it week-by-week. It’s Glasgow this week and then we know we’ve got a quarter-final to play at home in the Aviva,” Ryan added.

“That will be very exciting, to do that, at home in front of our own supporters. Just putting in a performance this week, and after that, that our supporters can be proud of and get behind. When we do that bit right, usually the rest of it takes care of itself.”

LEINSTER: H Keenan; T O’Brien, R Henshaw, J Barrett, J O’Brien; S Prendergast, F Gunne; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Clarkson; R Snyman, J Ryan; R Baird, S Penny, J Conan. Replacements: R Kelleher, J Boyle, T Furlong, D Mangan, M Deegan, L McGrath, C Frawley, J Osborne.

GLASGOW WARRIORS: K Rowe; S Cancelliere, H Jones, S Tuipulotu, K Steyn; A Hastings, B Afshar; J Bhatti, S Stephen, F Richardson; J Oguntibeju, A Samuel; M Duncan, R Darge, E Ferrie. Replacements: G Hiddleston, N McBeth, M Walker, JP Du Preez, S Cummings, S McDowall, G Horne, T Jordan.