Glasgow Warriors head coach Dave Rennie has named an unchanged line-up for Saturday’s Pro14 final against holders Leinster at Celtic Park.
Callum Gibbins captains the side, while Stuart Hogg makes his final appearance before joining Exeter Chiefs.
Ireland duo Rob Kearney and Jonny Sexton and former Australia lock Scott Fardy come into the Leinster team.
Sexton skippers Leo Cullen’s side, having last started in the Champions Cup final defeat by Saracens.
Kearney’s place at full-back means Jordan Larmour moves to the wing, while Ross Byrne drops to the bench and Devin Toner, Dave Kearney and Sean O’Brien do not feature, with O’Brien expected to leave for London Irish this summer.
Warriors head coach Dave Rennie has urged “excitement machine” Hogg to concentrate on reproducing his recent form.
“We tried to put the brakes on him today – he went berserk yesterday at training,” Rennie said.
“He’s an excitement machine. He’s desperate to go out on a big note and all we need him to do is to play as well as he has in the last few weeks and hopefully it’s enough.”
Rennie said that, after a stunning 50-20 win over Ulster in the semi-final, his players are relishing the prospect of playing in the first rugby union match ever to be staged at Celtic Park.
“The field is immaculate and the stadium has a bit of a South African feel to it with the massive stadium, high walls and the crowd being really close,” the New Zealander said. “It will be pretty special when it’s full.”
Rennie hopes that a few on-the-day purchases will boost further the 43,000 ticket sales on a day when Hampden Park in hosting football’s Scottish Cup final between Celtic and Hearts.
“But having 40-odd thousand here, 50-odd down the road, that’s a hell of an effort from the Glasgow community,” he said.
The only change to the Glasgow squad is Siua Halanukonuka’s inclusion on the bench with D’Arcy Rae missing out.
While Warriors, whose last trophy win was the 2015 Pro12 title, overcame Ulster in their semi-final, Leinster defeated Munster 24-9.
The only previous meeting of the two sides this season ended in a 39-24 win for Glasgow in Dublin.
Line-ups
Glasgow Warriors: S Hogg, T Seymour, K Steyn, S Johnson, DTH van der Merwe; A Hastings, A Price; J Bhatti, F Brown, Z Fagerson, S Cummings, J Gray, R Harley, C Gibbins (capt), M Fagerson.
Replacements: G Stewart, O Kebble, S Halanukonuka, R Wilson, T Gordon, G Horne, P Horne, H Jones.
Leinster: R Kearney, J Larmour, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J Lowe; J Sexton (capt), L McGrath; C Healy, S Cronin, T Furlong, S Fardy, J Ryan, R Ruddock, J van der Flier, J Conan.
Replacements: B Byrne, E Byrne, A Porter, R Molony, M Deegan, N McCarthy, R Byrne, R O’Loughlin.
Healy off Ed Byrne on
2nd possession Glasgow 30% Leinster 70%
Yes penalty to Glasgow but Hogg doesn’t get much distance lineout on Glasgow 22. 64th min
Leinster rumbling on but Glasgow turn over and play up to halfway as Sexton and Vd Flier are replaced
Try Stewart in right hand corner!
Glasgow 15/18 Leinster conversion missed by Hastings 76th min
Glasgow take it through 17 phases near their own 22 then knock on. Game over lost the last two minutes with the coverage jumping
Well done Leinster dominated most of 2nd half. Final score;
Glasgow Warriors 15/18 Leinster
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