Enter the Dragons: Leinster looking for improvement

THE Newport-Gwent Dragons take on Leinster in the Celtic League in Donnybrook tonight only four days after a gruelling six-point defeat to Welsh rivals the Ospreys at the New Stadium.

If Paul Turner’s team are feeling the effects of that particularly punishing engagement then Leinster coach Michael Cheika doesn’t expect to see any signs of that come kick-off.

“It was a very physical encounter. One thing’s for sure, whenever you play the Welsh teams it’s going to be a physical game,” said the former Randwick coach.

“It’s going to be difficult for them to back up but, what I’m finding with the Welsh teams is they seem pretty courageous. They’ll get up on their feet, I’d imagine, and be ready.”

Before Turner’s appointment this year, the Rodney Parade club was led by former Rugby League World Cup-winning coach Chris Anderson and Cheika believes his fingerprints are still very much in evidence on this Dragons outfit.

“They’re very well drilled on the small things, their charge-down game, their kick-chase game. When we make a small error - it might be a knock-back or something - that will be a real trigger for them to put some real pressure on us.

“That’s the type of game they play, very high pressure, high intensity and very physical on the breakdown.”

Though Leinster recorded their first win of the campaign against Glasgow last weekend, it was another far from convincing performance on the back of their opening day defeat to the Ospreys.

Line-outs and ball retention are the two principal stumbling blocks in Cheika’s attempts to remould this new-look side, but the coach is confident that improvement will follow automatically the more game time he and his team get under their belts.

“They’re progressing as a group. It’s pretty much on track. There’s obviously a lot involved in getting to know what players have in their arsenal. We’d probably like to have our recruitment issues finalised a week or so ahead of where we are now but that happens.

“Getting used to a new coach can be difficult but the players have the ability to put that together. I definitely saw a progression in last week’s game from the week before, in so far as putting our style of play together is concerned. We’re not going to have one unique style though, we’ll be flexible in the kind of game we play according to the opposition.”

The province’s reconstructed pack should learn quite a bit about itself against a Dragons team that has shown an appetite for some hard slogging already this season although, with the likes of the pacy full-back Kevin Morgan in their ranks, the danger facing the hosts tonight shouldn’t be classed as one-dimensional.

However, the visitors are still without their two Lions, Michael Owen and Gareth Cooper, neither of whom will feature prior to October. Out-half and Welsh international Ceri Sweeney is also unavailable this week due to a groin injury, while a knee complaint has also sidelined hooker Steve Jones.

For Leinster, Reggie Corrigan returns to the front row after a recent hand injury alongside recent acquisitions Bernard Jackman and Will Green.

As expected, Denis Hickie and Shane Horgan take their places on the bench, although Gordon D’Arcy has been given another week to hone his fitness and has been withdrawn.