Harlequins v Montpellier preview: Team news, kick-off time, line-ups and stats for the European Challenge Cup final - Ruck

Harlequins v Montpellier preview: Team news, kick-off time, line-ups and stats for the European Challenge Cup final

  • Harlequins make eight changes for their European Challenge Cup final against Montpellier on Friday evening: 20:00 kick-off
  • The final will be Conor O’Shea’s last game before he joins Italy
  • There will be a minute’s silence for Seb Adeniran-Olule before tomorrow evening’s match
Harlequins have made eight changes to play Montpellier in the final of the European Challenge Cup at the Grande Stade De Lyon (live on BT Sport and Sky Sports).

In a transformed front five Joe Marler, Joe Gray, Adam Jones, James Horwill and Sam Twomey start, with Luke Wallace returning to the openside flank. Among the replacements, Dave Ward, Mark Lambert, Karl Dickson and Ross Chisholm are named.

Quins face French side Montpellier in Friday’s final, which will be Conor O’Shea’s last game in charge before he joins Italy. Win and the English side would book a place in 2016/17’s Champions Cup, with Montpellier already secured of that due to their Top 14 form.

It was hardly ideal preparation for Harlequins last weekend as they found themselves on the receiving end of a 62-24 defeat to Exeter on their home patch. They’ll hope that was because of having one eye on this Friday and nothing else as play like that and they will lose.

Following the tragic news that loosehead prop Seb Adeniran-Olule died in a traffic collision this week, there will be a minute’s silence before tomorrow evening’s match. The Harlequins squad will also wear black armbands in his memory.

More to follow.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Harlequins: Danny Care
Montpellier: Bismarck du Plessis

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 George Lowe, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care (c), 8 Nick Easter, 7 Luke Wallace, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Sam Twomey, 4 James Horwill, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Dave Ward, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Mat Luamanu, 20 Jack Clifford, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Ben Botica, 23 Ross Chisholm

Montpellier: 15 Benjamin Fall, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Anthony Tuitavke, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Marvin O’Connor, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic White, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Jacques Du Plessis, 3 Jannie Du Plessis, 2 Bismarck Du Plessis, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili
Replacements: 16 Mickael Ivaldi, 17 Yvan Watremez, 18 Davit Kubriashvili, 19 Sitaleki Timani, 20 Kelian Galletier, 21 Benoît Paillaugue, 22 Robert Ebersohn, 23 Jesse Mogg


Date: Friday, May 13
Venue: Grand Stade de Lyon
Kick-off: 21:00 local (20:00 BST, 19:00 GMT)
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Marius Mitrea (Italy), Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Television Match Official: Jim Yuille (Scotland)