When is it, where is it on, and who else is playing this weekend?
Leinster face Munster this Saturday at the Aviva Stadium in the semi-finals of the United Rugby Championship, with kick-off fixed for 5.30pm. The other semi-final starts earlier, at 3pm in Cape Town, where Stormers face Connacht.
How can I watch it?
RTÉ will broadcast live coverage of the clash from Lansdowne Road. If you’re looking for Connacht, they’ll be live over on TG4. The Irish Times will have all the URC action covered up to the minute.
What’s happened in the competition so far?
Leinster have stormed through the URC, winning 16 of 18 matches during the regular season, and finished atop the combined standings with 79 points – their nearest challengers, Ulster, finished 11 points behind.
They made light work of Sharks on moving into the knockout stages of the competition, winning 35-5 when the South African side came to Dublin last weekend.
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Munster have followed a more tumultuous path en route to the semi-finals, but nevertheless finished a strong fifth in the URC table, qualifying for the knock-out stages of the competition and next season’s Champions Cup.
Last weekend’s quarter-final win for Munster was a bruising affair, but they prevailed at Scotstoun Stadium to see off Glasgow Warriors 14-5.
Who will win?
Leinster lost at this stage of the competition last year, a stinging single-point loss to Bulls at the RDS. They’ll be at pains to make amends this time around, as they continue their charge towards a Champions Cup-URC double.
Munster will have a sizeable task keeping Leinster at bay in the Aviva. The team must also adapt to a number of injuries to high-profile players.
Team news
A bloated injury list means Munster come into the clash at the Aviva Stadium with an undoubtedly weakened hand.
Malakai Fekitoa, Conor Murray, Calvin Nash and RG Snyman will all be unavailable on Saturday – all four were removed for head injury assessments during the quarter-final win over Glasgow Warriors, and are following the return to play protocols and mantadory 10-day stand-down.
Peter O’Mahony was another casualty of the win in Glasgow, and question marks remain over his availability. The Munster captain is awaiting the results of a scan on an elbow injury.
Leinster emerged from their quarter-final victory with less to fret over, personnel-wise. However, Cian Healy did suffer an ankle injury during the win, and “will be further assessed later in the week”.
Line-ups will be announced later in the week.
