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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Michael Scully

Leinster expect Leicester Tigers to take to the air in bid for Champions Cup shock

Leinster boss Leo Cullen predicts an aerial bombardment from Leicester Tigers in a bid to shoot down tonight's quarter-final favourites at the Aviva Stadium.

The changes made by Richard Wigglesworth to the Tigers backline have handed the province the blueprint to how the visitors will tackle the knock-out clash.

England full-back Freddie Steward - who was sent off in the loss to Grand Slam winning Ireland three weeks ago for a high challenge on Hugo Keenan, but the decision was rowed back on by a disciplinary committee - is moved to the wing.

Veteran Mike Brown takes the no 15 shirt while veteran ex-Leinster star Jimmy Gopperth is dropped from the Tigers team.

READ MORE: Leinster 'juggernaut' has learned from Champions Cup heartbreak - Leicester's Richard Wigglesworth

“Aerial is the first thing that springs out when I see it," said Cullen. "You’ve got a guy who is 6ft 5in on the wing so I think they’ll go to the air on that side of the field.

"Mike Brown has a tonne of experience and is a very competitive bloke in general and so has that competitive piece, that experienced part. Dan Kelly comes in at centre, he's very good around the breakdown threat.

"So the breakdown, the way they go hard after the ball, it’s all or nothing really, isn’t it? They will go harder in that area with some of the jacklers that they have.

"Obviously Wiese is back in to start, Montoya, Reffell, so they will go hard at the ball. That’s a big part of their game, part of their DNA, trying to slow down some of the things we would like to do. That would be my thinking."

Cullen himself has made an interesting call by handing Caelan Doris the Leinster no 7 jersey for the first time in his career. Doris and Garry Ringrose return after missing last week's last 16 victory over Ulster.

With Josh van der Flier absent with an ankle injury, the Blues have kept faith with in-form Ryan Baird and Jack Conan in the back row at no 6 and no 8 respectively, and Cullen is confident that the "world-class" Doris will fit in at openside.

“He would feature quite a bit there," said the head coach. The way we set up normally, so say if Jack comes in and Josh was in the team.

"Or if Caelan starts at 8, Josh was at 7, that combination of Jack coming on, that would be the shift so Caelan would have covered there plenty of times for us.

"It looks potentially a bit drastic but that's something that is covered. We have confidence in the decision."

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