{"id":14394,"date":"2026-05-01T17:03:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T16:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=14394"},"modified":"2026-05-01T17:03:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T16:03:39","slug":"bath-ben-spencer-returns-to-face-bordeaux-begles-in-champions-cup-semi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=14394","title":{"rendered":"Bath: Ben Spencer returns to face Bordeaux-Begles in Champions Cup semi"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Andrew Porter returns at loose-head prop to shore up Leinster’s front row in Saturday’s semi-final against Toulon at the Aviva Stadium.<\/p>\n

Porter hasn’t played since picking up an injury in the last-16 win over Edinburgh at the start of April.<\/p>\n

However, fellow Ireland international Tadhg Furlong is missing after limping out of the defeat by Benetton at the weekend, with Tom Clarkson coming in at tight-head.<\/p>\n

Joe McCarthy and James Ryan are paired in the second row, while Harry Byrne steers the side from fly-half and All Black Rieko Ioane is on the wing.<\/p>\n

Toulon include former England prop Kyle Sinckler and Scotland scrum-half Ben White in their starting line-up, with Junior Kpoku, who won the under-20 World Cup with England’s age-grade side in 2024, earning the nod at blindside flanker.<\/p>\n

South African-born second row David Ribbans, who won 11 England caps between 2022 and 2023, captains the side.<\/p>\n

Leinster:<\/b> Keenan; O’Brien, Ringrose, Henshaw, Ioane; Byrne, Gibson-Park; Porter, Sheehan, Clarkson, McCarthy, Ryan, Conan, Van der Flier, Doris (c)<\/p>\n

Replacements:<\/b><\/i> <\/b>Kelleher, Cahir, Slimani, Soroka, Penny, McGrath, Prendergast, Osborne<\/p>\n

Toulon: <\/b>Jaminet; Drean, Brex, Sinzelle, Tuicuvu; Albornoz, White; Gros, Baubigny, Sinckler, Mezou, Ribbans (c), Kpoku, Ollivon, Shioshvili<\/p>\n

Replacements:<\/b><\/i> Lucchesi, Brennan, Gigashvili, Halagahu, Mercer, Serin, Abadie, Ferte<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Porter returns at loose-head prop to shore up Leinster’s front row in Saturday’s semi-final against Toulon at the Aviva Stadium. Porter hasn’t played since picking up an injury in the last-16 win over Edinburgh at the start of April. However, fellow Ireland international Tadhg Furlong is missing after limping out of the defeat by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rugby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}