Leinster hunt second victory over Connacht with home-ground advantage

After snatching an away victory in the first leg of the Round of 16, Leinster make their way back home to the Aviva Stadium to face fellow Irish outfit Connacht in the return fixture. 

Leo Cullen’s men outscored Connacht by three tries to two last week to claim the result in a match which the latter contested bravely: 

 “You always want more, it’s your natural greed, particularly when you’re 23-14 ahead and playing down the slope, you’re hoping you’ll kick on at that point.  

“It doesn’t quite play out like that as we know, but our noses are just about in front. It’s better than being five points behind!  

“Whatever the situation was, it was always going to be a tricky dynamic. The big thing is it’s a great contest and I think it’s a positive celebration of Irish provincial rugby when you see much it means to the two teams.  

“That’s what you want to see. We’ve won our sequence of derby games in the last while, we beat Connacht away, Munster away and Connacht away, so now we’ve got a home game against an Irish province, albeit the Aviva will be our home.  

“So for our guys it’s getting excited by playing in front of our home support on Friday and trying to put on a big performance in a knock-out game in Europe where we’re starting five points ahead.  

“It’s great and I think it’s something that should be celebrated because you could see it there, a packed house in Galway and I’m sure if there was a bigger venue there, they would have been able to pack a lot more people in.” 

SEE: How the Champions Cup quarter-finals work and how things stand ahead of the second leg 

Connacht boss Andy Friend is looking forward to having the pressure of his troops’ shoulders. 

"No-one gives us a chance," he said. 

"No-one gave us a chance last Friday night and probably no-one will give us a chance next Friday, which is ‘beaut’, because they’re the games that you just go and play, just go and do what you’re meant to do. 

“And I know and we know that if we do that we can beat any team. 

"As good as Leinster are, with all the quality they’ve got, we caused them some issues on Friday night. 

"Now, they’ll be better next week but we will too. So we go up there with nothing to lose and everything to gain. That’s the image we’ll take. 

"We won’t shy away from the areas where we thought we gave them access to the game. 

"Their first two tries they were access errors from us, and there were a few more in the second half too where they didn’t finish things off. 

“So it will be a very honest review as it always is." 

Key facts:

• Each of Leinster’s last two games against fellow Irish sides in the Heineken Champions Cup have ended with a margin of victory of five points or fewer.
• Leinster have won seven of their last eight home matches in the knockout stage of the Heineken Champions Cup (L1); however, their sole defeat during that period came in their most recent such fixture (17-25v Saracens in the 2019/20 quarter-final).
• Connacht have lost their last four games in the Heineken Champions Cup, each by margins of fewer than seven points; only once before have they lost more consecutive games in the competition though, when they lost their first five games during their debut season in 2011/12.
• Connacht have lost their last eight matches away from home in the Heineken Champions Cup; this fixture will be the first time that they have played a Heineken Champions Cup knockout stage match away from home, as well as the first time that they have visited a fellow Irish team in the competition.
• Leinster (14) and Connacht (11) are the only teams to have scored more than 10 tries from possessions that started with a lineout in the Heineken Champions Cup this season.
• Connacht have conceded 22 scrum penalties in the Heineken Champions Cup this season, twice as many as any other club; meanwhile, only Leicester Tigers (17) have won more penalties from scrums than Leinster (12).
• Leinster duo Hugo Keenan and Jamison Gibson-Park have both assisted six tries in the Heineken Champions Cup this season, more than any other player; Keenan made two assists last weekend, as well as scoring one try, while Gibson-Park recorded one assist.
• Leinster’s Garry Ringrose has made six passes that have led directly to a line break in the Heineken Champions Cup this season, more than any other player, while only three players have made more offloads than him (7) this season; Gregory Alldritt (11) Thomas Ramos (10) and James Hume (9).
• Connacht’s Jack Carty has scored 54 points in the Heineken Champions Cup this season, the most of any player; he has also made the most kicks in play (70) and gained the most kicking metres (2549).