Wednesday, January 20, 2010
LET’S dispense with the basic arithmetic first.
Beat London Irish in Twickenham on Saturday and Leinster will be guaranteed top spot in Pool Six and a home quarter-final in April. Secure a bonus point, or stop their opponents doing likewise, and they will still finish first.
A losing bonus point could even secure a last-eight tie in Dublin. That would leave the champions scrambling for news from elsewhere, however, and Brian O’Driscoll wouldn’t dream of accepting a bonus-point defeat and a later date at the RDS if it were somehow magically offered to him.
"Not in the slightest. We realise London Irish beat us in the first game. We know how good they can be. There are lots of permutations and combinations but as players you can’t buy into that.
"The focus has to be getting into the knockout stages. Our destiny is in our hands and it’s just a case of ensuring we put ourselves there. We were disappointed with our performance in October. Saturday is an opportunity to put that right."
O’Driscoll’s logic is understandable, not just for reasons of professional pride, but because Cheika can once again call on a full complement of players for their last group game in the English capital.
Both Jonathan Sexton and Shane Jennings came through their comebacks against Brive unscathed on Saturday and the equally rusty CJ van der Linde banked 19 minutes.
As O’Driscoll admitted yesterday, Leinster could scarcely have imagined being in such rude health given that opening round defeat to London Irish. Securing home advantage would constitute a remarkable turn in fortunes and, in fairness, the province is overdue a home quarter-final.
Leinster have featured in six of the 13 quarter-final rounds played in the Heineken Cup and boast a 50% win-loss ratio, but they have had to pack their bags for the last three of those assignments against Harlequins, Wasps and Toulouse.
It is five seasons since they last played host in the last eight and, though Leicester plundered Lansdowne Road on that occasion, the players are eager to make things less complicated for themselves and their fans this season.
"There’s definitely been some diehards who have been there for a long time and we owe them with their constant travelling, the money they spend on us," agreed O’Driscoll.
"It would be great to get them one home quarter-final so they could stay at home for one week at least."
The signs look good.
It isn’t that long since Leinster last featured at Twickenham and they were steeped to emerge from the stadium with a losing bonus point, against Wasps, on that occasion.
Only a year has passed since then but it seems like a lifetime. Back then, Leinster were stuttering through the season hoping to stay afloat. Now, they are operating with far more confidence. That was apparent last week at the RDS when they refused to panic in the search for the elusive fourth try and bonus point against Brive at the end of a frustrating evening.
It took a sweetly rehearsed move and moment of off-the-cuff brilliance from Shane Horgan to release O’Driscoll into the corner for the crucial score with the game edging into injury-time.
Unexpected though it was, Horgan’s reverse pass is something Leinster players often try in training. They even have a name for it – a ‘Gidley’ – a phrase coined by former attack coach David Know in honour of Australian rugby league player Matt Gidley.
"We weren’t panicking. That does show a maturity. We knew there would be an opportunity. When we got that last scrum, we knew ‘this was our chance to get our fourth try and if we don’t get it now, it’s not going to happen’. The fact we put together a good play… an incredible piece of skill from Shane to get it out of the tackle and a canter in. To be able to be that clinical in the 79th minute definitely does show we have come a long way.
"The more you’re in those very tight games and find yourself needing to produce, the better chance you have of doing it next time around."
LEINSTER SQUAD: Forwards: L Cullen, J Fogarty, C Healy, J Heaslip, N Hines, B Jackman, S Jennings, R McCormack, K McLaughlin, S O’Brien, M O’Kelly, M Ross, CJ van der Linde, S Wright.
Backs: S Berne, G D’Arcy, G Dempsey, S Horgan, R Kearney, S Keogh, I Nacewa, P O’Donohoe, B O’Driscoll, E Reddan, J Sexton.
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