For those of you interested, the starting 15 have just been announced.  The are as follows:

Leinster: 15 Isa Nacewa, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O’Driscoll, 12 Gordon D’Arcy, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Chris Whitaker, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Malcolm O’Kelly, 4 Leo Cullen (capt), 3 Stan Wright, 2 Bernard Jackman, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 John Fogarty, 17 Ronan McCormack, 18 Devin Toner, 19 Sean O’Brien, 20 Simon Keogh, 21 Rob Kearney, 22 Girvan Dempsey.

Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy (capt), 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Ayoola Erinle, 12 Dan Hipkiss, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Sam Vesty, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Ben Woods, 6 Craig Newby, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Tom Croft, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Julian White, 18 Louis Deacon, 19 Lewis Moody, 20 Harry Ellis, 21 Matt Smith, 22 Johne Murphy.

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales).

This years final promises to be an absolute corker of a match, with the teams so evenly matched that we are offering a scratch handicap for the game.  It is the classic consistent performers versus an in-form team scinario, meaning that it really is too hard to call with any great vigor.  One thing is certain though, if Leinster re-produce the form they showed in their semi-final victory over Munster, Leicester will have to come up with a season-best performance if they are to have any chance of taking the title.

Despite their recent victory in the Premiership, all Leicester have shown is that they can beat mediocre teams, and not even beat them well (their performance in the final is a good example of this).  Having said this, Leinster too have displayed similar qualities (their 6-5 victory in the quarter final is a good example) and it is clear that their good performances have been in conjunction with Brian O’Driscoll’s good performances.  However, O’Driscoll has already shown that he is a big-game player and at this moment in time is probably the best player in the world and it is this reason why I will be giving Leinster the nod over their rivals from across the water.

Leinster showed in the semi-final that their pack can match the best in the world but it is their great ball-carrying skills going forward that will help clinch it if O’Driscoll’s one-man-show is not enough to propel them to victory.  In Heaslip and Helson, Leinster have two monster threats and they will also look to this pair to guide them towards victory.  Leicester will probably look to Vesty and Dupuy to inspire their team, both of whom would probably make most people’s team of the season.

All of this said, from a betting perspective, I still think Leinster will do the business, but if their odds-on price is a bit off-putting, then why not have a look at our winning margins, where you can get Leinster to win between 1-5 points at 4/1, and this is probably the soundest bet in the game.  Personally, I feel that Leinster will give Leicester a good thonking as they are out to show that their win over Munster was no fluke and they are also the only Irish team to yet taste European glory, two factors which mean that they will be the hungrier of the two, a trait which I like in teams I back.

My bet:  Leinster to win 11-15 points @ 10/1. Easy money…

This entry was posted on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 12:59 pm and is filed under Rugby, Sports Talk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.