Ross Molony planning Leinster revenge mission against Scarlets
Scarlets visit the RDS this Saturday for the first time since that fateful semi-final win over Leo Cullen’s men, a victory that set them on their way to a first title since the 2004 Celtic League when they beat Munster at Lansdowne Road.
Both sides have a shedload of players on international duty with Wales and Ireland — who meet in Dublin the following weekend on Six Nations duty, ensuring a raft of new faces will be given the opportunity to play their part in a growing rivalry this weekend.
Ross Molony will be one of the few Leinster players to have played in the May clash, and will ensure his new team-mates get to know just what this game is all about.
“The Scarlets have lost a lot of players to the Welsh squad and they’re coming over to the RDS where they’ve done well, certainly their last game there was the semi-final when they turned us over,” Molony said.
“It’s probably a test in depth for both teams, but a lot of the players in our review this morning probably wouldn’t have played in that game, they don’t have the experience of that.
“For us, it’s about driving that message that this is about us getting revenge, it’s about us not allowing a team to come to the RDS and beat us.”
One of the key players in red is expected to be Tadhg Beirne, who is playing his final season with the Welsh region.
So impressive was Beirne in last season’s semi-final and final wins over Leinster and Munster that the southern province immediately pushed out the boat to snap up the former Leinster second row.
Beirne has been briefly involved in Ireland’s training camp earlier this year, and while he is unlikely to play in green this month, he’ll be in the away dressing room this weekend — a likely final visit to Dublin before he does so with a Munster shirt on.
“He’s been brilliant, he has really had a couple of great seasons over there, he was on 20 turnovers before the Benetton game last weekend and I saw him get at least three, so he’s really putting a marker down,” Molony said. “Like last year I’m sure he’s looking to come over and make his mark at the RDS.”
For such a tall man, Beirne has a particular skill in being able to lower himself over the breakdown, disrupting opposition play and stealing possession.
“Yeah, he’s able to get over it, get a low body height, which is obviously really impressive,” he said.
“He’s obviously been put into a pretty powerful back row there as well with James Davies, who is also brilliant over the ball, but probably over the weekend that’s somewhere we’re looking to target.
“We have to beat them at the breakdown, they probably got the upper hand on us there when we played them in previous games so that’s going to be a real focus for us.”
With much of the team that played last May now on Six Nations duty, Molony can expect to be surrounded by some fresh faces for Saturday’s game. Jordan Larmour, Adam Byrne, Luke McGrath, and other fringe players could be in the mix, but this is really a game where those on the edges get an opportunity to prove to Cullen and Stuart Lancaster that they can be relied upon to deliver.
“We’ve seen Will Connors step up and get his first cap and his first start last weekend, and I thought he did brilliantly, but that’s exactly it, it’s for the players who may not have got a look in earlier in the season to put their hand up,” Molony said. “The international players are going to come back eventually and it’s just about giving the coaches that tough decision where you’ve performed over that block and they know you’re not just going to hand that jersey back over easily.
“We’ve used over 40 players so far in the PRO14, it’s brilliant, it shows great depth in the squad.”
