‘Angry’ Leinster on a mission
Michael Cheika gave his players last Monday and Tuesday off following the Munster defeat and Wednesday was spent largely in a collective navel-gazing session.
But Cheika insisted yesterday that the ‘mourning period’ is over. “For us, the word disappointment has now changed to angry,” said the coach. “We missed an opportunity we probably didn’t realise was there because we didn’t maybe expect to go there. Sometimes you need to scar, you’ve gotta get knocked down to get back up to be better and jump higher.”
The match video has already been dissected and, though Cheika was able to identify a number of positives from the debris, there wasn’t need for any forensic examination in working out the negatives.
“We made a lot of tackles and defended very well but we fell off a lot of them. In the ball carry, we allowed them to dominate that part of the game so we got no go-forward. They were able to slow our ball down every time and that was smart play from them.”
Considering Leinster’s starting point when Cheika arrived last summer, their season has far exceeded expectations. But Gordon D’Arcy admitted the wounds will take longer to heal because it was their old rivals who defeated them. “It’s going to hurt for years to come. I genuinely thought that whoever won that match would win the Heineken Cup. The thing that has been coming out all week has been ‘learn from it’. We haven’t learned from our mistakes in previous years.”
D’Arcy said that the onus is now on Leinster not to self-destruct and let their season taper off into mediocrity. The fact that they are still in the driving seat for Celtic League honours will have helped refocus minds to that end.
“It’s not just saying it now, but this is our tournament,” said Cheika. “It’s ours week in, week out. It’s where we grow our form and where we perform. We’ve got to make sure that we treat all the teams with the correct respect if we want to win the tournament.”
Brian O’Driscoll and Reggie Corrigan are out after picking up minor knocks last weekend. A back injury has sidelined Cameron Jowitt while the injury Bryce Williams suffered at Lansdowne means he has played his last game before his transfer to Bourgoin.
Eric Miller will start his final home game before his impending retirement, Adam Byrnes partners Malcolm O’Kelly in the second row, Bernard Jackman replaces Brian Blaney, while Ronan McCormack sits in for Corrigan. In the back line, Kieran Lewis deputises for O’Driscoll and Felipe Contepomi captains the side.
In the Ospreys, they face a team running into more form the further the season stretches. Jason Spice is an effective pivot at scrum-half, Stefan Terblanche provides danger on the wing while Gavin Henson will be hoping to leave Lansdowne with better memories than his last visit during the Six Nations.
The Jones brothers, Adam and Duncan, bring class to the front row and the back five is a capable ball carrying unit when it clicks into gear. With Heineken Cup qualification for next season still to be secured, they will hardly want for motivation.
: G Dempsey, S Horgan, K Lewis, G D’Arcy, D Hickie, F Contepomi, G Easterby; R McCormack, B Jackman, W Green, A Byrnes, M O’Kelly, E Miller, K Gleeson, J Heaslip.
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