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Five players in line to make European debut for Leinster against Montpellier

Ireland international James Ryan will captain a much-changed Leinster team for Friday's Heineken Champions Cup trip to Montpellier



Ireland international James Ryan will captain a much-changed Leinster team for Friday's Heineken Champions Cup game away to Montpellier.

There are potentially five European debuts in Leo Cullen’s squad with academy back Jamie Osborne named in the starting 15.

Both squads have been hit by Covid but as things stand, the game is scheduled to take place in France on Friday night.

Jimmy O’Brien starts at full-back, with James Lowe and Adam Byrne selected on the wings as Byrne prepares for a first start in Europe since January 2019.

In the centre, Ciarán Frawley will partner 20-year-old Osborne, with Jamison Gibson-Park and Ross Byrne the half-backs selected by Cullen once again.

Cian Healy, Rónan Kelleher and Andrew Porter are all named in the front row with Ryan Baird and James Ryan behind them in the second row.

Max Deegan, Dan Leavy and Jack Conan are named in the back row with Conan also making his return from a quad injury and Leavy making his first European start in just over three years.

Vakh Abdaladze, Jack Dunne, Academy scrum-half Cormac Foley and Scott Penny, are all in line to play their first games in the competition should they be introduced at GGL Stadium.

Hugo Keenan, Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose, Rhys Ruddock, Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Ross Molony and Tadhg Furlong all drop out of the team that started last week's win over Bath at the Aviva Stadium.

The Leinster squad and staff will leave Dublin airport on Friday morning, ahead of the late evening kick-off in France.

Leinster team:

15. Jimmy O’Brien
14. Adam Byrne
13. Jamie Osborne
12. Ciarán Frawley
11. James Lowe
10. Ross Byrne
9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Cian Healy
2. Rónan Kelleher
3. Andrew Porter
4. Ryan Baird
5. James Ryan (C)
6. Max Deegan
7. Dan Leavy
8. Jack Conan

Replacements:

16. Dan Sheehan
17. Ed Byrne
18. Vakh Abdaladze
19. Devin Toner
20. Jack Dunne
21. Cormac Foley
22. Tommy O’Brien
23. Scott Penny

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Heineken Champions Cup Leinster Leo Cullen Montpellier