Leinster are set to play their first match in over a month this weekend when they host Montpellier in the Heineken Champions Cup. Covid has brought Leinster's season to a halt as of late as their last 4 matches were postponed or cancelled, including their match against Montpellier before Christmas which lead to a 28-0 victory being awarded to the French side. It will be interesting to see if the four time champions will be able to restart their season with a victory, so here's how to watch Leinster vs Montpellier and team news.
How to watch Leinster vs Montpellier
Leinster take on Montpellier at the RDS on Sunday 16th January and kick off is at 1pm.
The match is live on BT Sport 2 and their coverage starts at 12:30pm.
Match Preview
Leinster's last match was on 11th December when they thrashed Bath 45-20 at the Aviva Stadium. Since then there was a Covid outbreak in the squad which lead to their matches against Montpellier and Munster being cancelled and postponed and then their match against Ulster was postponed due to a Covid outbreak in Ulster's squad.
The team news coming out of their camp is that unfortunately there's another injury setback for Dan Leavy. The flanker fractured his wrist last week and had to undergo surgery, ruling him out for two months. Leavy has only played a handful of games since his major injury against Ulster back in 2019 and hopefully he can soon reach the form he had before that injury.
🔵 | 𝗟𝗲𝘁'𝘀 𝗴𝗼 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮!
Here's your #LeinsterRugby team for our first game of the year, against @MHR_officiel 👊
© @JamesRyan126
🙌 @JohnnySexton is back!
5️⃣0️⃣ #HeinekenChampionsCup games for @RhysRuddock #LEIvMHR #FromTheGroundUp pic.twitter.com/e1oOE2fH7z— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) January 14, 2022
Johnny Sexton returns from injury on the bench while James Ryan captains the side. Jimmy O'Brien will get a chance to show himself as he starts on the wing ahead of James Lowe who's on the bench.
Montpellier have also had their schedule affected by Covid. Their last two Top 14 matches against Toulon and Toulouse were called off, meaning they haven't played a match since 27th December. That match was against lowly Biarritz and Montpellier won 27-12, leaving them fourth in the Top 14 table as it stands.
🗃 @MHR_officiel
⎣📂 Saison 21-22
⎣📂Compositions
⎣📁 #J3 EPCR#TeamMHR #LEIMHR pic.twitter.com/CzEULYDdHY— Montpellier Rugby (@MHR_officiel) January 14, 2022
Former France captain Guilhem Guirado starts at hooker and captains Montpellier. England international Zach Mercer starts on the bench.
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