Jimmy O’Brien v Willie le Roux
In a title decider between the two teams which kicked the ball most during the regular season, control of the Croke Park skies will be crucial to the outcome and while Leinster are missing first-choice number 15 Hugo Keenan to a calf injury, his replacement O’Brien is by no means a weak link.
At the other end of the field, double World Cup winner le Roux needs no hard sell and his all-round playmaking skills – he was South Africa’s lone but extremely versatile backline replacement in the 2023 World Cup final – make him a threat to Leinster in all manner of ways.
Yet both full-backs will be kept busy under the high ball and whichever of the 15s can dominate their aerial encounters could hold the destiny of the trophy in their safe hands.
Sam Prendergast v Johan Goosen
With 10 years between the respective fly-halves in terms of age, the experience gap is huge yet if anyone can bridge it in terms of delivering a performance on the highest stage it is Leinster and Ireland’s Prendergast.
Both are incredibly naturally gifted readers of the game, capable of either sparking their team’s attacks or holding together multi-phase play but Prendergast will need to be on point both in defence and off the kicking tee if he is to be the difference maker Leinster supporters hope he can be.
Converting just three from eight place kicks mattered little in a one-sided semi-final against a misfiring Glasgow Warriors side but it will not get the job done in a tight battle with a heavyweight Bulls side.
Jack Conan v Marcell Coetzee
The breakdown, as always will be pivotal to the destination of the URC trophy and the back row battle throws up two Test-capped trios of loose forwards and a fascinating head-to-head at No.8.
Both sides are missing their injured standouts in the position, Caelan Doris and Cameron Hanekom but their stand-ins are both top-shelf exponents at the back of the scrum.
Conan will be a two-tour Lion when he gets to Australia in a couple of weeks and he also ably fills the captaincy vacancy in Doris’s absence while former Ulster enforcer Coetzee has been capped 31 times by the Springboks, no mean feat in the land of the giants.
Each has their merits in the carry as well as in contact and it could be a contest which defines this title decider.
