Schmidt happy with his ‘mix’

FEW would have foreseen a scenario whereby Leinster — and Munster — would be hoping to emulate Brive when the Heineken Cup started last November but such is the rather strange way of things as the pool stages fade into memory.

It’s been 15 years since the unfashionable French side thumped Dean Richards’ Leicester Tigers in the final at the Cardiff Arms Park to become the first, and still the only, club to navigate an entire Heineken Cup campaign without loss.

So much has changed since.

It now takes nine rather than seven games to win a tournament Brive themselves have graced just once since 1998 and nine clubs have managed to make the quarter-final stage in the intervening years with hopes of an unsullied record still intact.

Northampton, Cardiff, Scarlets, Biarritz, Toulouse, Leinster, Leicester, Bath and Wasps have all fallen short. It is clearly a tall order and Leinster’s tussle with the history books is only compounded this season by the fact that 10 years have passed since Leicester became the one and only side to capture titles back-to-back. No pressure, then.

“I guess because it is a knockout from here on in the odds are already stacked against you,” said coach Joe Schmidt, “because to defend a title you have to get to a final and we have got to get through two games which will inevitably be against top-class opposition.”

Unlike Munster, Leinster would not be able to boast the perfect campaign should they prove triumphant in Twickenham next May, having began their campaign with that round one draw in Montpellier in France.

Such an asterisk would hardly dilute the celebrations of a third European title were it to come and Schmidt can pause for air on this down week comforted by thoughts of a pool that provided safe passage for his team while allowing new faces into the deep end.

Sean Cronin and Jamie Hagan were afforded debuts in the tournament, Ian Madigan was handed kick-off duties for the first time while both Rhys Ruddock and Eoin O’Malley built on solitary starts made last season.

Schmidt’s squad strength was franked by the fact that only five players started all six fixtures. Out-half aside, the reigning champions appear to have cover of almost equal quality in every area of the pitch and they are equally adaptable in their methodology.

Schmidt spoke after Saturday’s defeat of Montpellier in Dublin about how pleasing it had been to see his team “mix the flashy stuff and the roll-up-the-sleeves-stuff”. It summed up all half-dozen outings so far.

First-half tries from Sean O’Brien, Rob Kearney and another from Cian Healy shortly after the restart assured Leinster of the win that secured home advantage in the last eight but the visitors’ one period of pressure warmed the cockles most on a freezing afternoon.

Montpellier spent 13 minutes inside the hosts’ 22 in the opening period, the last five against 14 men after Damian Browne’s temporary expulsion, and though they sniffed the try line, they never got to cross it.

“We have shown a really good balance,” said Schmidt. “We have shown resolve and we have shown character and at the same time we have shown some pretty effective and clinical stuff as well and you need to combine those things.”

With Healy’s premature departure described by the coach as precautionary, Leinster, Brian O’Driscoll and Shane Horgan aside, go on with a clean bill of health. History beckons.

Scorers for Leinster: Tries: O’Brien, Kearney, Healy. Cons: McFadden (two). Pens: McFadden (two).

Scorers for Montpellier: Pen: Moyano.

LEINSTER: R Kearney, F McFadden, E O’Malley, G D’Arcy, I Nacewa, I Madigan, I Boss; C Healy, R Strauss, J Hagan, L Cullen, D Browne, R Ruddock, S O’Brien, J Heaslip.

Replacements: M Ross for Hagan (40), H van der Merwe for Healy (48), S Jennings for O’Brien (56), D Toner for Cullen (56), E Reddan for Boss (57), S Cronin for Strauss (57), F Carr for Kearney (65).

MONTPELLIER: JB Peyra, T Nagusa, Y Audrin, P Bosch, M Bustos Moyano, F Trinh-Duc, J Tomas; N Leleimalefaga, A Creevy, G Jgenti, H Hancke, J Tioneau, F Ouedraogo, M Gorgodze, A Tulou.

Replacements: T Combezou for Peyras (56), M Bustos for Jgenti (56), A van Vuuren for Creevy (56), S Fernandez for Trinh-Duc (57), M Demarco for Tuineau (57), JG Figallo for Leleimalefaga (60), V Bost for Tulou (66).

Referee: N Paterson (Scotland).