Warner hopes it’s third time lucky against Biarritz
Like many of his team-mates, the Aussie outhalf has played the French champions twice in recent times. But the circumstances have been markedly different.
While Leinster’s jousts with tomorrow’s opponents were reserved for the European Cup, Warner had the displeasure of tasting double defeat to Biarritz in the French league during his unhappy season with Pau. Third time lucky we wonder?
“I hope so, I don’t have a great record so far against Biarritz,” he agrees as if pained to be reminded.
After a rather forgettable season in France, Warner has hooked up with his old coach, finding himself in a wave of hype. And he’s revelling in it.
Last time he worked with Matt Williams, in New South Wales, it wasn’t like this at all.
Each narrow defeat the Waratahs suffered, the Sydney media, it seemed, cried for Williams’ head. Not in Leinster, though.
“Matt is a superb coach. There was no hesitation when he rang me and asked me to come over,” Warner said.
Of course, the ease of change was helped by the horrid time he had in Pau. “I had a difficult time over in France,” he admits, “what with the language barrier. I had no French going there, so communication was tough.
“And, the fact that Pau didn’t have a very professional set-up, it was hard to adjust coming from Super 12.”
However, his season on the Continent provided him with an insight into the intricacies of French rugby and that of its champions.
“That they are French champions says it all. They have a very strong forward pack and some great outside backs.
“I think it is going to be a forward-dominated game, we will just have to get on top of them early and hopefully, just run at them. Hopefully, later, we can cut loose in the backs.”
It is obvious that his, and the squad appetite has been whetted by the happenings of the recent Six Nations championship and past number of weeks at international level and by the wave of hype which has swept through the province.
“It was hard waiting for this game to come around, watching the other guys play the Six Nations. We knew there was going to be this gap though, so we had time to prepare physically and mentally for that situation.
“We turned it into an advantage when the other guys were away, we were still working and concentrating on aspects of the game which we thought needed extra work.
“Individually, we were just doing the boring stuff, working with weights, increasing our upper body strength. There might be a little lack of cohesion early on tomorrow, but the Ulster game will have helped in that regard.”
Over the past 10 months, Warner has settled into life in Leinster. Like his coach, he has enjoyed the family feeling around the team. Most of all, though, he has enjoyed playing with players of the calibre of Brian O’Driscoll and Denis Hickie.
“It makes my job easier, when I have quality around me in the back line,” he said.
Despite being due to name their starting XV and replacements, Leinster only named a squad due to concerns over the availability of some players for the game against Biarritz.
Leinster will announce the full team, including the starting XV and replacements at 12 noon today.
Leinster Lions Squad: Backs: G Dempsey, P McKenna, D Hickie, B O’Driscoll, P Wallace, S Horgan, D Quinlan, G D’Arcy, N Spooner, C Warner, B O’Meara, B O’Riordan, B Willis. Forwards: R Corrigan, E Byrne, J Lyne, S Byrne, G Hickie, D Blaney, N Treston, P Coyle, L Cullen, M O’Kelly, A Kearney, E Miller, K Gleeson, V Costello, A McCullen.
Not considered due to injury:
D Dillon, A Dunne, P Wallace.
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