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Challenge Cup finalists Leicester and Montpellier each make two changes from their semi-final XVs
By Liam Heagney
Leicester and Montpellier have each made two changes to their Challenge Cup final XVs following respective semi-final wins three weeks ago over Ulster and Bath. The Tigers have Dan Kelly in their midfield in place of Matt Scott, with Cyle Brink coming in at back row for George Martin.
Montpellier, meanwhile, have changes in the same two places, Jan Serfontein lining up at inside centre for Julien Tisseron and Fulgence Ouedraogo chosen at blindside for Nico Janse van Rensburg.
The French club's bench looks very tasty, though, especially with the World Cup-winning Cobus Reinach and Handre Pollard ready to be thrown into the Twickenham fray should they be needed by Montpellier in a contest with Leicester that will be played in front of an attendance of 10,000.
“We haven’t shared a matchday with Tigers supporters for more than a year and we are excited that we get that chance again on Friday night,” said Leicester boss Steve Borthwick, who opted to keep England No9 in reserve on his bench and stick with semi-final starter Richard Wigglesworth. “Our fans have been incredibly supportive from afar and we are pleased they have the chance to enjoy some live rugby in the upcoming weeks.
“I’m very pleased our players get the chance to play in front of Tigers fans again after so long. In every game we go out to put in a performance that our entire Tigers community is proud of, and that is what I will be asking of the players again this week.”
LEICESTER TIGERS: 15. Freddie Steward; 14. Guy Porter, 13. Matias Moroni, 12. Dan Kelly, 11. Nemani Nadolo; 10. George Ford, 9. Richard Wigglesworth; 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Tom Youngs (capt), 3. Dan Cole, 4. Harry Wells, 5. Calum Green, 6. Hanro Liebenberg, 7. Cyle Brink, 8. Jasper Wiese. Reps: 16. Charlie Clare, 17. Luan de Bruin, 18. Joe Heyes, 19. Cameron Henderson, 20. Tommy Reffell, 21. Ben Youngs, 22. Zack Henry, 23. Kini Murimurivalu.
MONTPELLIER: 15. Anthony Bouthier; 14. Arthur Vincent, 13. Johan Goosen, 12. Jan Serfontein, 11. Vincent Rattez; 10. Alex Lozowski, 9. Benoit Paillaugue; 1. Enzo Forletta, 2. Guilhem Guirado (capt), 3. Mohamed Haouas, 4. Florian Verhaeghe, 5. Paul Willemse, 6. Fulgence Ouedraogo, 7. Yacouba Camara, 8. Alexandre Becognee. Reps: 16. Bismarck Du Plessis, 17. Robert Rodgers, 18. Titi Lamositele, 19. Tyler Duguid, 20. Jacques Du Plessis, 21. Cobus Reinach, 22. Handre Pollard, 23. Gabriel N'gandebe.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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