Tomane wings in for the clash of European titans

Toulouse v Leinster

JOE Tomane will make his first European start for champions Leinster in today’s Pool 1 clash in Toulouse as the Irish side aim to win their 11th consecutive Champions Cup match.

Australian flyer Tomane is preferred to Fergus McFadden on the right wing with Jordan Larmour moving to full-back ahead of the meeting with the French club that is top of the pile with Leinster with four European crowns.

Ireland full-back Rob Kearney has failed to recover from a tight quad and his absence is the only change from the starting line-up which demolished Wasps 52-3 at the RDS.

Toulouse will hope to build on an opening day 22-20 victory over Bath.

Rhys Ruddock – a late call-up last week for Dan Leavy who injured himself in the warm-up – starts at blindside flanker. Ruddock said: “The stakes are high and with the history they have in this competition, this is going to be huge.

“There is going to be a massive level of intensity and physicality which everyone in this environment really relishes.”

After the eight-try win over Wasps last Friday, Lawrence Dallaglio led the praise for Leinster with a comparison to the All Blacks but head coach Leo Cullen said: “There’s huge scope for us to get better.

“One thing we talked about this week is doing it in the RDS is a totally different challenge to doing it away in France against a team that is going to be highly motivated off the back of a win away.

“If Toulouse win the game, they’re out in front in the pool. Things can escalate quickly.

“The guys are pretty clued in. They know what we still need to work on. If anything, everyone is just excited about the challenge of going to France, because it’s such a big test.”

This will be the tenth meeting between the sides and the first in over seven years since their semi-final clash in 2011 won 32-23 by Leinster at the Aviva Stadium.