Cardiff Rugby vs Leinster Prediction: Cardiff no match for URC frontrunners

United Rugby Championship table-toppers Leinster might be without a host of Ireland stars, but they will still fancy their chances of claiming the spoils against Cardiff on Saturday night.

Leinster head to the Welsh capital having won eight of their first 10 games of the URC campaign, while Cardiff sit down in 12th place with just three wins in the competition this term.

Scoring an impressive 304 points in their first 10 outings, Leinster’s attacking play should see them fall on the right side of the handicap market at Cardiff Arms Park.

Match Odds

Cardiff are the underdogs on home soil for this one, with 5/1 on offer for the hosts to come out on top in the 80 minutes.

Leinster are the heavy favourites at 2/15 for the win, while a tie this weekend is currently available at 25/1.

Team News

Cardiff provided the most players to Warren Gatland’s 2024 Six Nations squad when it was announced in mid-January.

With Wales preparing for their clash against France on March 10th, most of those 11 players who were selected for the national squad won’t feature against Leinster this weekend.

Seb Davies was a possibility to leave the Wales squad to feature in the URC clash, but he has now been ruled out with a back injury.

Captain Josh Turnbull has a big day ahead of him as he’s set to make his landmark 200th appearance for Cardiff on Saturday.

As for the visitors, fly-half Ross Byrne and utility back Jamie Osborne should be available once again, after the pair came through their last game against Benetton without any issues.

Byrne and Osbourne had been out with respective arm and shoulder injuries but after coming through unscathed, should be ready to go again in Cardiff.

Leinster of course will be without a host of their international stars, with no less than 19 players called up to Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad ahead of the Six Nations.

Leinster -17 handicap @ 7/5

Leinster could be accused of being complacent when they suffered a shock defeat at Cardiff two years ago during the Six Nations campaign.

It saw Cardiff record a first home victory over Leinster in 11 years and broke a 16-game losing streak against the Irish province.

The current Leinster squad, many of whom featured in that 29-27 defeat, will have been given a reminder of that day in the build-up to Saturday’s contest at Cardiff Arms Park.

Head coach Leo Cullen saw his side impress without their Ireland stars last time out in a 47-18 win over Benetton in Dublin.

Given Leinster are averaging just over 30 points a game in attack in the URC this season, it’s not hard to see them not only winning this weekend, but also falling on the right side of the -17 handicap.

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