Speaking on RTE, prior to Leinster vs Gloucester at the RDS this evening, Jamie Heaslip gave his take on the team selection controversy surrounding the visiting English side.
Gloucester have sent over an extremely inexperienced side, similar to Montpellier in last season's Champions Cup, and some have criticised the Premiership team for disrespecting the Champions Cup.
Jamie Heaslip, however, has suggested that the format of the competition - which makes it fairly easy to reach the knockout stages - may be to blame.
"On one and I don't blame Gloucester, but then you listen to the coach there and their mindset is actually, basically saying we're favouring our domestic league over European competition.
"That's not the way it should be. This should be, it is the Champions Cup, this should be top of the bus for them in terms of priorities.
Now you could argue, they might be going 'well if we had of sent a full strength team over anyway, this Leinster team might ship 40 points on us regardless.' But, you know, it doesn't send a good signal either way, and the competition have to look at it and kind of go, is this the right format? Is this driving the right behaviours from the teams?
Jamie Heaslip Gives His Take On Leinster - Gloucester Team Selection Controversy
The head coaches offer their pre--match thoughts
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Yesterday, Jim Hamilton sparked much debate regarding the team selection, with the following tweet:
"I have just seen Gloucesters team to play Leinster in Dublin on Friday (a six day turn around) which is mental. Until the champions cup is a fair playing field you can’t expect Prem teams to field their strongest team against a team like Leinster who are fully loaded and rested."
SEE ALSO: Jim Hamilton Defends Gloucester Changes For Clash Against Leinster
