Leinster head coach Leo Cullen admits he was forced into some tough decisions with his squad ahead of tomorrow's Investec Champions Cup final against Toulouse, but believes he has struck the right balance for the decider at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Cullen's matchday squad has been built off the same blueprints as their quarter-final win over defending champions La Rochelle last month, with Will Connors preferred to Josh van der Flier in the starting side, and Jason Jenkins picked ahead of James Ryan in the pack.
Crucially, the Leinster coach has kept both Van der Flier and Ryan among the replacements, where he has gone for a 6:2 split, with Luke McGrath and Ciarán Frawley the two backline subs.
Ross Molony, Jimmy O'Brien and Harry Byrne are among those who have missed out on the squad as a result of those selections.
"There have been a few of those [tough] conversations this week," Cullen admitted at his pre-match press conference in London this afternoon.
"Ross Molony, in that instance, is incredibly unlucky because he's been brilliant for the team over the course of the season and in previous seasons as well.
"A few guys are incredibly unlucky to miss out but we think we have a strong 23 there, who will hopefully represent everybody well.
"Some tight calls in terms of the team, but that’s the nature of the competitive squad we have."
Ryan is included for his first appearance of the knock-out stages, having returned from an arm injury a week ago against Ulster. Hugo Keenan also missed the quarter and semi-final victories with a hip issue, but is fit enough to start at full-back.
"I think we've a good balance there.
"Hugo [Keenan] got through the game last week, so did James [Ryan], great to have James back.
"I guess from some of the experience we have, we need to make sure we’ve got that level of experience coming off the bench.
"James has been great with the way he’s gone about the week, we need him on the field there to help us win the game at the end. The combination of Jason [Jenkins, below] and Joe [McCarthy], we’ve seen that before."
With McGrath and Frawley covering the entire backline, Leinster's 6:2 bench split carries obvious risk, but the rewards were clear when they used it to great effect in both wins over La Rochelle this season.
Cullen is confident he and his coaching team have every contingency covered, and says the ability to bring players like Josh van der Flier off the bench gives them greater power across the 80 minutes.
"He's such a dynamic player, Josh [Van der Flier], we’ve always discussed different ways to get impacts off the bench, and Will [Connors] has been excellent in the couple of games he’s played, and the role he’ll deliver for the team.
"Hopefully we’ll have a good combination there, I think it’s important we have that freshness in those big games.
"Again, we could go through [the team]. Ciarán Frawley, because of his versatility, he’s played games as a ten, 12 and 15 this year. He gives us a lot of comfort in that regard.
"Luke McGrath has featured on the wing preciously, Josh van der Flier’s featured on the wing, so it does give you plenty of comfort.
"With the way the modern game is, in terms of the physicality that the forwards are involved, having some freshness at the end is important for sure," he added.
The province are more than familiar with their opponents Toulouse, having defeated the five-time champions in the semi-finals of both 2022 and 2023.
Ugo Mola's side are unchanged from their win against Harlequins in the last four, with Blair Kinghorn (above) preferred to Thomas Ramos at full-back.
And while Cullen says the French champions are largely similar on paper to their previous versions, he says they're always adding minor tweaks.
"There’s plenty of similarities from previous seasons.
"A lot of their game’s based around forward power. People think in terms of some of the ball-playing skills they have, the offload ability they have, they’ve a very strong identity around keeping the ball alive. A lot of it is based around some forwards that are big and powerful as well.
"We need to make sure we’re clued in for that forward battle. We’ve got some good forwards that are starting, some excellent forwards coming off the bench as well, so we have a good mix in terms of how we plan to try counter that.
"You see the physical profile of [Thibaud] Flament, [Alexandre] Roumat. They’re dynamic, not necessarily as big a pack as they’ve had in the past. Is that a conscious decision from their coach, I don’t know. You see a bit of evolution there.
"With the half-backs, they’re very experienced players that we’ve come up against on previous occasions.
"They have some good young players coming through, similar to ourselves. There’s lots of similarities between the two clubs."
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