Leinster without Johnny Sexton while Simon Zebo returns for Munster

Leinster have been hit with a massive injury blow ahead of tomorrow's Champions Cup match against Montpellier at the RDS.

Leinster without Johnny Sexton while Simon Zebo returns for Munster

Leinster have been hit with a massive injury blow ahead of tomorrow's Champions Cup match against Montpellier at the RDS.

Johnny Sexton will miss the tie due to a dead leg, Rory O'Loughlin and Sean O'Brien are also out.

Captain Isa Nacewa has recovered from a calf problem to join Robbie Henshaw in the centre.

Head Coach Leo Cullen says the match came too quickly for the trio.

He said: "Johnny and Rory O'Loughlin, the two of them came through the game okay but just flagged in with some stiffness and dead legs. They couldn't train properly this week so we made a call really early.

"Seanie (O'Brien) is a little bit slower than we would have thought as well with his calf, Isa on the other hand made it through.

"So we have a few injuries, but you can see it across the board a lot of teams with injuries at the moment."

Ross Byrne has been handed the number 10 jersey as one of two changes from the side that started last week's win over Munster at the Aviva Stadium.

Munster will see the return of Simon Zebo as one of five changes to the team for Sunday's match against Castres in France.

The Corkman has returned to full fitness to take the place of JJ Hanrahan at full back.

Tyler Bleyendaal is restored to out half while Billy Holland and Mark Flanagan form a new look second row.

Munster defied the odds to reach the semi-finals last season, and captain Peter O'Mahony is looking to build on that experience.

He said: "Rugby is about taking your learnings, we had that last year at Saracens and Llanelli and a few other teams gave us good lessons last year.

"The main thing is to learn from them and build on them, move on. We are certainly going in the right direction.

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