Leinster roll out the big guns for Montpellier showdown

Leo Cullen has packed all his heavy artillery as Leinster fly to the south of France for their toughest game of the season.

The Irish province will face one of the most physical sides around in Jake White’s Montpellier, who went down narrowly to Northampton Saints in last week’s opening pool game in England.

At home tomorrow in their Altrad Stadium, the French side will be looking to pick up at least four points from Leinster in what White has called a “do-or-die” game, but Cullen has thrown his big guns in from the start — and stacked his bench with some added heavyweights.

Sean O’Brien makes his first appearance for the club in nine months, while Johnny Sexton has proven his fitness and starts ahead of Joey Carbery, who did nothing wrong on his European debut against Castres last weekend.

“It’s just a little experience,” Cullen said, explaining his decision to pick Sexton.

“He came through the [recovery] steps this week and the fact it’s a slightly longer week has helped as well. He trained fully this morning and he’s good to go, we hope.”

O’Brien has been in full training for almost a month and proved his match fitness with 40 minutes in an easy win for Leinster A over Richmond last weekend.

“It’s always a difficult one trying to reintegrate a guy who has been out, coming off surgery and coming back in,” Cullen said.

“The A game was a good hit out for him, 40 minutes, and he’s trained the last three or four weeks as well. He’s got some good miles in his legs already, he’s trained hard. He’s looked sharp this week, he’s vocal, he’s showing some positive signs.

"We’ve been very cautious in the way we’ve reintroduced him. It will be a big ask stepping into a physical environment. Montpellier are a big strong team but Seanie is a big strong guy so hopefully he’ll go well.”

Leinster’s front row is all changed from last week with Cian Healy, James Tracy, and Mike Ross starting, with the not unimpressive Jack McGrath, Sean Cronin, and Michael Bent loading some significant ballast onto the replacements bench.

O’Brien is joined by Jamie Heaslip and Josh Van der Flier in the backrow, where they will face a trio to test any in Europe.

Fulgence Ouedraogo, Akapusi Qera, and Pierre Spies start for White’s side, a selection that influenced Cullen’s decision to pick just two backs on his replacement bench.

“It’s very similar to when we played Ospreys, we did something similar, so we’ve a bit of experience already this year coming up against big physical teams,” Cullen said.

“We need to make sure guys have it in their heads they can go out really hard at the start, and having that ability coming off the bench is important for us, hopefully we can be in the situation where we can go and try win the game.”

To so do, Leinster will need to be more clinical than they were against Castres.

“It’s pretty frustrating when we leave so much out there,” Isa Nacewa, the winger, said.

“When we come in on the Monday and review a game and see what we left out there, it’s a lot for us to work on, but a positive sign that we still got the result, at the end of the day.

“We work hard in training, we work hard on the combinations that are out there on the field, and I think we are getting better each week.

"But it’s about executing under pressure and finishing those opportunities. That’s what we have to get better at if we want to progress.”

Montpellier have threats throughout their squad, but Nacewa pinpointed Fiji wing, Nemani Nadolo, as someone to keep an especially close eye on.

“When I was back in New Zealand, he was with the Crusaders, he’s immense,” he said.

“He’s absolutely skilled, a great kicker of the ball too. He’s very, very smart and people underestimate how smart he is. He’s an out and out finisher too.

"We know what he can do, so we know we have to be on our game to deal with that. But across their backline, Alexandre Dumoulin, Vincent Martin, Francois Steyn... they’re a solid international side, so we’ll have to be on point.”