Leinster rugby

Leinster rugby

Full name	Leinster rugby
Nickname (s)	Leinster Lions
Founded	1875
Stadion	RDS Arena Aviva Stadium
Places	18,500 / 51,700
Trainer	Leo Cullen
Homepage	www.leinsterrugby.ie
league	Pro14
2018/19	master
home Away

Leinster Rugby ( Irish Rugbaí Laighean) is a professional rugby union team from the province of Leinster in Ireland . She plays in the international championship Pro14 and takes part in European cup competitions. The team represents the Irish Rugby Football Union Leinster Branch , one of four sub-associations of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU). The home stadium is the RDS Arena in Dublin , and the Aviva Stadium is available for particularly important matches . The team's greatest successes are five Pro14 championship titles and four cup victories in the European Rugby Champions Cup and Heineken Cup .

history

The Province of Leinster Association was founded in 1875. In the amateur era, the national team played against the other three provinces ( Connacht , Munster and Ulster ) for the Irish provincial championship, winning the championship 20 times.

Since the professionalization of rugby union in the 1990s, Leinster Rugby has participated in the Celtic League, the joint championship of Ireland, Scotland and Wales , which was later expanded to include teams from Italy and South Africa for the Pro14. So far they have been champions five times: in 2002, 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2018. Leinster Rugby reached the semifinals of the European Heineken Cup in 1996, 2003 and 2006 . In 2009 the team was able to win the title in this competition for the first time, the second title followed in 2011, the third in 2012. In the 2012/13 season , Leinster had the opportunity to be the first team ever to win the title three times in a row; the team was eliminated in the preliminary round, but could win the European Challenge Cup . In 2018, in addition to the Pro 14 championship, Leinster also won the European Rugby Champions Cup , the follow-up competition to the Heineken Cup.

The traditional home ground of Leinster Rugby was Donnybrook Stadium with 6,000 seats for several decades . Since it had become too small, Leinster Rugby reached an agreement with the Royal Dublin Society in order to be able to play the home games in the RDS Arena (18,500) in the future . This happened for the first time during the Heineken Cup 2005/06 , and from the 2006/07 season also at league games. Home games with great audience interest have been played in the Aviva Stadium (51,700 seats) since 2010 .

successes

• European Rugby Champions Cup / Heineken Cup winner : 2009, 2011, 2012, 2018
• Winner European Challenge Cup : 2013
• Champion Pro14 : 2002, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019
• Irish provincial championship: 20 championship titles
• Winner British and Irish Cup : 2013, 2014

player

Current squad

The squad for the 2019/2020 season:

Front side (forwards) pier  Vakh Abdaladze  Michael Bent  Ed Byrne  Peter Dooley  Tadhg Furlong  Cian Healy  Andrew Porter hooker  Bryan Byrne  Sean Cronin  Ronan Kelleher  James Tracy Second row striker  Scott Fardy  Ross Molony  James Ryan  Devin Toner Winger  Will Connors  Caelan Doris  Dan Leavy  Josh Murphy  Scott Penny  Rhys Ruddock  Josh van der Flier Number eight  Jack Conan  Max Deegan

Back line (backs) Half of the crowd  Jamison Gibson Park  Luke McGrath  Hugh O'Sullivan Connection half  Ross Byrne  Ciaran Frawley  Johnny Sexton Inner three quarters  Robbie Henshaw  Cian Kelleher  Fergus McFadden  Conor O'Brien  Jimmy O'Brien  Rory O'Loughlin  Garry Ringrose Outer three-quarters  Barry Daly  Dave Kearney  Jordan Lamour  James Lowe  Joe Tomane Goalkeeper  Adam Byrne  Rob Kearney  Hugo Keenan

British and Irish Lions

The following players from the Province of Leinster have been nominated for the British and Irish Lions .

trip	player
1896	Tom Crean
	Robert Johnston
1938	George J. Morgan
1950	Karl Mullen
1955	Robin Roe
	Tony O'Reilly
1959	Niall Brophy
	Ronnie Dawson
	Bill Mulcahy
	Tony O'Reilly (2nd nomination)
1962	Niall Brophy (2nd nomination)
	Bill Mulcahy (2nd nomination)
1968	Ronnie Dawson (2nd nomination)
1971	Mike Hipwell
	Sean Lynch
	Fergus Slattery
1974	Tom Grace
	John Moloney
	Fergus Slattery (2nd nomination)
1977	Willie Duggan
	Philip Orr
1980	Ollie Campbell
	Philip Orr (2nd nomination)
	Rodney O'Donnell
	John Robbie
	Tony Ward
1983	Ollie Campbell (2nd nomination)
	Hugo MacNeill
1989	Paul Dean
	Brendan Mullin
1993	Vince Cunningham
1997	Eric Miller
2001	Brian O'Driscoll
	Malcolm O'Kelly
2005	Shane Byrne
	Gordon D'Arcy
	Denis Hickie
	Shane Horgan
	Brian O'Driscoll (2nd nomination)
	Malcolm O'Kelly
2009	Gordon D'Arcy (2nd nomination)
	Luke Fitzgerald
	Nathan Hines
	Rob Kearney
	Brian O'Driscoll (3rd nomination)
2013	Rob Kearney (2nd nomination)
	Brian O'Driscoll (4th nomination)
2017	Tadhg Furlong
	Robbie Henshaw
	Jack McGrath
	Sean O'Brien
	Johnny Sexton

Records

Most games

	Surname	Games
1.	Gordon D'Arcy	257
2.	Devin Toner	231
3.	Jamie Heaslip	229
4th	Leo Cullen (rugby player)	219
5.	Rob Kearney	210
6th	Cian Healy	208
7th	Shane Jennings	205
8th.	Shane Horgan	203
9.	Brian O'Driscoll	186
10.	Isa Nacewa	185

Most attempts

	Surname	tries
1.	Shane Horgan	69
2.	Brian O'Driscoll	61
3.	Gordon D'Arcy	60
4th	Denis Hickie	56
5.	Isa Nacewa	47
6th	Rob Kearney	41
7th	Sean Cronin	40
8th.	Jamie Heaslip	38
9.	Felipe Contepomi	33
10.	Girvan Dempsey	32
	Luke Fitzgerald

Most of the points

	Surname	Points
1.	Johnny Sexton	1446
2.	Felipe Contepomi	1225
3.	Ian Madigan	827
4th	Isa Nacewa	706
5.	Brian O'Meara	553
6th	Fergus McFadden	434
7th	Ross Byrne	385
8th.	Alan McGowan	372
9.	Jimmy Gopperth	350
10.	Shane Horgan	348

Web links

• Official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Senior Quad. Leinster Rugby, accessed September 28, 2019 .