Ckeika under no illusions about Munster challenge

IT was warm and sunny at Old Belvedere yesterday and the weather seemed to reflect a happier, more composed, more determined atmosphere among the Leinster coaching set-up and players.

Their new Australian coach Michael Cheika spoke positively in the build-up to Sunday’s eagerly awaited Celtic League clash with Munster at Thomond Park. His assistant coaches, men of the calibre of scrummaging guru Roly Meates and former Irish supremo Gerry Murphy nodded their heads in agreement. You sense they believe this match could be the catalyst for the kind of season Leinster have been promising for many years but which invariably ended in a failure to produce their best.

Cheika opted not to reveal his hand yesterday, instead announcing a panel of 28 that didn’t include key men in new skipper Brian O’Driscoll and Malcolm O’Kelly, both still on the injured list, but otherwise interesting for the inclusion of Gordon D’Arcy and Eric Miller. D’Arcy came in for the final fifteen minutes in the impressive win over Ulster on Sunday last and may start while Miller was introduced in the second half and made a major contribution. So Leinster could hardly be travelling to Cork in a better frame of mind.

“Last week was a good game from an entertainment point of view but Munster is going to be a different proposition because we have to go down there”, said Cheika. “We are quietly going about our business preparing for this match because I know it’s going to be another big game for us as a team and the players vying for international selection in the coming series of games. I wouldn’t be getting carried away with our performance against Ulster. I think we did a lot of good things. We started to realise some of our visions as far as our attack is concerned although I would still like to see more attack from first phase. But the pace of our game is lifting and this was another step along the way and definitely a step up on the previous game.”

Michael Cheika is still finding his way in this country and can’t know a whole lot about how the game operates here. Nevertheless, he was up to speed with the reputation and tradition Munster enjoys. He was aware, for instance, that Munster once beat his own Australian touring side at Musgrave Park and it was always a tough place for international teams to visit. Furthermore, he is under no illusions about the commitment of the players and the enthusiasm of their supporters and how his side will have to improve still further to clear this difficult hurdle.

“We will need to continue our progression”, he accepted. “I’d like to see it in an accelerated way but if we can keep improving every week, that’s part of our long term goal as well as our short term goal of trying to win this match. I believe we have to raise our level and our intensity a touch as well. Most teams have varying patterns these days. I’d be surprised if Declan Kidney, who coached here last year and knows our players, doesn’t change a bit of what he does for this week so I wouldn’t be going off historical about how the game goes.

“Stringer is an international half, O’Gara is an international five eighth, Halstead has played for South Africa, Connolly has played international football so it’s not as if they have ordinary players there. It’s how they use the attack and where they use the attack and along with that they’re quite smart. They know how to reverse the play back on you when you think they’re keeping it in close. They attack quite swiftly with wide men. They pick and choose their time and they have a good forward pack as well so it’s going to be a good contest.”

Cheika will wait until tomorrow at the earliest before announcing his side. He is not exaggerating when claiming that “it is too hard to pick our back line sometimes.” As of now, he is still deliberating between playing D’Arcy in the centre or on the wing on Sunday while also available in the threequarter line are the exciting newcomer Robert Kearney, Felipe Contepomi, Shane Horgan and Denis Hickie.

He could, of course, opt to move Contepomi to out-half but that would mean dropping Christian Warner. The one certainty is that Brian O’Meara will start at scrum-half against his former team on a ground where he has enjoyed some of his greatest moments. Guy Easterby is out for a month or so because of injury.

“I haven’t been home for a while so it promises to be interesting”, said O’Meara. “Everybody knows Munster are a good team from one to fifteen. I’ve played often enough with Ronan O’Gara to know how well he controls a game.”

LEINSTER (from) Backs: B. O’Meara, B. O’Riordan, E. Hickey, C. Warner, F. Contepomi, K. Lewis, S. Horgan, R. Kearney, D. Hickie, B. Burke, G. Brown, G. D’Arcy, G. Dempsey.

Forwards (from): R. Corrigan, R. McCormack, W. Green, E. Byrne, B. Jackman, D. Blaney, B. Williams, B. Gissing, d. Dillon, S. Crawford, C. Potts, K. Gleeson, N. Ronan, E. Miller, J. Heaslip.