D’Arcy looks to Gunners for inspiration
D’Arcy is the youngest of the club of seven to achieve that status, but he’s not even thinking about what it means at the moment. “Sure, I’m proud to get this far, but I will have to let all thoughts of the milestone behind me until after the game. It’s just so important that we win,” he said.
“Games like these are the reason why you play rugby. You want to measure yourself against as high a calibre a side as possible, and they don’t get much higher than Toulouse.”
Soccer fan D’Arcy is taking inspiration from Arsenal’s recent achievement in Europe. “They were written off against Real Madrid but believed in themselves and beat them. Again they proved their doubters wrong against Juventus this week and that’s something we can take heart from.”
There were no particular surprises in the Leinster team named yesterday. It was a line-up predicted over the last few weeks, although coach Michael Cheika has had to disappoint front-line back row contender Niall Ronan, who is named in the reserves. Alongside Keith Gleeson and Jamie Heaslip, Cameron Jowitt is named in the back row.
Leinster’s hot-shot back division will be led by the tournament’s top scorer Felipe Contepomi, but Cheika continued to hedge his bets should anything happen to the Argentinean during the game. “We have a back-up plan, but we’re hoping that Felipe doesn’t get injured. I think it would take a hammer and a mechanical digger to get him off the pitch anyway,” said Cheika.
But if Leinster arrived yesterday to face a dramatic positive climatic change to enhance their spirits, Toulouse were boosted with the news that Yannick Jauzion is ready to take up the challenge.
Jauzion, who missed the Six Nations, came through a tough game with Agen last week and said yesterday; “I’m feeling great, and very much looking forward to the game.”
Jauzion is well prepared for a tough midfield battle alongside Florian Fritz against Brian O’Driscoll and D’Arcy. “In a way, it’s going to feel like France playing Ireland in the middle of the field,” he said.
Trevor Brennan will partner Fabien Pelous in the second row, but injury denied another former Leinster player, Aidan McCullen, of being named in the reserves.
Leinster second row Malcolm O’Kelly believes Ireland’s Triple Crown win will benefit the Irish provinces this weekend.
“In our case, everything has been very positive since coming back into the Leinster camp. Now we have to translate those positives from the training ground to the pitch,” he said.
He looks forward to crossing swords with Brennan for the first time since the Irishman left for Toulouse.
“That should be pretty interesting, and I’m sure he will be looking forward to it as well, having felt that he had to leave Leinster to progress his career. I’m sure he has a point he wants to prove. I respect him hugely as a player, and I was surprised that Leinster let him go at the time; he was turning into a very hardy second row, and that’s what he has become since then,” he said.
In relation to his former colleague he has no intention of “being sucked into any kind of mischief that Trevor might come up with.”
“We have to be aware that he is just one of eight very tough Toulouse forwards. We will go out to play hard rugby, just as Trevor epitomises what Toulouse are all about. He will put his body on the line for his team, and all this talk about him being a loose cannon doesn’t wear with me. If he was, he wouldn’t have lasted as long as he has, and he wouldn’t have a couple of Heineken Cup medals to show for his efforts.”
On a broader scale, O’Kelly reckons this game is probably Leinster’s biggest test in Europe. “We have had big games before, but this surpasses any of them. I think it’s a great opportunity for us all to test ourselves against one of the really great teams of European rugby,” he said.
Following O’Kelly’s return from international duty, he has noticed an uplifting difference amongst the players who held the fort while he was away.
“When we were away for such long periods in the past, I found there was a bit of an us and them scenario,” he said. “I don’t quite know where that spawned from, but this time we were embraced by the others, taken in and we had an evening out together. Everybody seemed genuinely happy that we were back; there was no bullshit and the fact there wasn’t any tension between us was great.”
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