James Lowe left out of Leinster side for Champions Cup final due to selection rule as Pat Lambie starts for Racing 92

James Lowe has been left out of the Leinster side that will face Racing 92 in the European Champions Cup final on Saturday, with head coach Leo Cullen unable to select the Kiwi due to the small but crucial ruling in the European Premier Club Rugby regulations.

Leinster, who are bidding to win a fourth Champions Cup trophy after their three Heineken Cup wins in 2009, 2011 and 2012, are able to welcome scrum-half Luke McGrath back from injury that he suffered in the quarter-final victory over Saracens last month.

But the presence of his back-up, New Zealander Jamison Gibson-Park, among the replacements causes Leinster a problem.

EPCR rule 3.7 states that no team is allowed to field more than two ‘non-European’ players in the tournament, and with Gibson-Park coming into the side, one of Australian Scott Fardy and Lowe has to drop out of the side.

Haven’t heard of this rule before? Wondering how other sides get away with it when they are packed with South Africans, Fijians and the like? That’s because under the Cotonou Agreement between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific group of States, South Africa and the Pacific Islands are exempt from the ruling. Players can also qualify as European by having parents or grandparents from the continent, but in this case that does not apply for Fardy, Gibson-Park and Lowe, and so one must drop out.

Lowe, who was brought in from the Chiefs earlier this season and has made a significant contribution to Leinster’s Pro14 campaign, missed the semi-final victory over the Scarlets because of this, and head coach Leo Cullen has elected to do the same for Saturday’s final in Bilbao in order to meet the regulations. It is a cruel blow for Lowe, but one that cannot be avoided.

“It's not just James Lowe, we had a host of difficult conversations with players this week,” said Cullen, explaining his reasons for the omitting Lowe. “I thought Jamison did really well [in the semi-final], Scott is a good leader.”

It does raise questions of Leinster’s recruitment policy and whether they were aware of the ruling when they decided to sign Lowe, given that Fardy and Gibson-park were already on the books.

Leinster are also without wing Fergus McFadden due to a season-ending hamstring injury, so captain Isa Nacewa starts on one wing with emerging Irish talent Jordan Larmour on the other. The rest of the line-up is very much as expected, and even without injured flankers Sean O’Brien and Josh van der Flier, the Irish province is able to field an incredibly strong back-row unit of Fardy, Dan Leavy and Jordi Murphy.

Lowe is not the only big name missing from the team line-ups. Racing are without arguably their most influential player in France scrum-half Maxime Machenaud, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in Racing’s 39-15 Top 14 win over Bordeaux Begles. The 29-year-old ruptured knee ligaments, meaning that he will also be sidelined for the start of next season, and not only does it rob the French side of one of their star players, but it also takes away their first-choice goal-kicker.

That means the duty is passed to starting fly-half Pat Lambie and, should he come on as a replacement, Dan Carter – not bad alternatives by any stretch, but neither has scored a single point in Europe this season.

For Carter it will be his final European appearance before he leaves the club to move to Japan and join Kobe Steelers on a two-year deal. It will not be his final farewell with Racing due to face either Castres or Toulouse in the Top 14 semi-finals, but all eyes will be on the two-time Rugby World Cup winner when he eventually takes to the pitch at the San Mames Stadium.

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There’s no doubting that Racing are the underdogs for this grand occasion, but they can at least draw on their previous triumph over Irish opposition in defeating Munster in the semi-finals as well as their past record in the tournament. The belief is that it takes losing a European final before winning one – Racing have done that, losing to Saracens two years ago. And with the likes of France wing Teddy Thomas and naturally gifted lock Leone Nakawara capable of producing match-changing moments in an instant, the Parisians cannot be ruled out of the equation.

Leinster: Rob Kearney; Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Isa Nacewa; Johnny Sexton, Luke McGrath; Cian Healy, Sean Cronin, Tadhg Furlong; Devin Toner, James Ryan; Scott Fardy, Dan Leavy, Jordi Murphy.

Replacements: James Tracy, Jack McGrath, Andrew Porter, Rhys Ruddock, Jack Conan, Jamison Gibson-Park, Joey Carbery, Rory O’Loughlin.

Racing 92: Louis Dupichot; Teddy Thomas, Virimi Vakatawa, Henry Chavancy, Marc Andreu; Pat Lambie, Teddy Iribaren; Eddy Ben Arous, Camille Chat, Cedate Gomes Sa; Donnacha Ryan, Leone Nakawara; Wenceslas Lauret, Bernard Le Roux, Yannick Nyanga.

Replacements: Wayne Ole Avei, Vasil Kakovin, Census Johnston, Boris Palu, Baptiste Chouzenoux, Antoine Gibert, Dan Carter, Joe Rokocoko.