Agen ready for Leinster trip, says Meeuws

AGEN prop Kees Meeuws says confidence within the Pool two table-toppers is sky high ahead of their trip to Lansdowne Road to play Leinster on Saturday.

Meeuws insists there is an inner belief coursing through the squad that they can now win away from their Stade Armandie base following their impressive round-two victory over Gloucester in “fortress” Kingsholm in October.

Unlike other French teams who suffer from “travel sickness” away from their home patch, Meeuws believes his teammates are battle-hardened for the trip to Dublin

“For the guys to know that they can now go outside of France and not under-perform and come back with the result is massive for us,” says Meeuws. “We wanted to play well and we are planning to do the same against Leinster.”

Meeuws, who played for Castres against Munster last season, is keeping a cool head in the run up to their double-header with Leinster.

“I know we’re top of our Pool – perhaps against the bookies predictions – and it feels great,” said the former All Blacks prop.

“Every team aspires to go as far as they can in the tournament and it’s certainly what we are doing but, with such a tough Pool, I think we have so far probably done better than anyone expected. Now we just have to keep our heads and build on it.

“And the win at Gloucester doesn’t make this any less of a must-win game against Leinster. The most important impact it has had on us is in terms of confidence. Our performance against Leinster will be stronger because of the belief that we can turn them over.”

He added: “Although Agen have never played an Irish team in European competitions, several players have met Ireland on the international scene and, as so many of the Irish squad are from Leinster, we have a pretty good idea what to expect,” he said.

“Ireland are the strongest team in the northern hemisphere and Leinster have a squad who have been together for a while now, playing both domestic and international rugby together.

“They have a high-tempo game which comes from knowing each other. They are going to be tough.

“The good news for us is that Caucau (Rupeni Caucaunibuca) will be back for us. He played at the weekend without any problems and it’s really important to have him on the pitch. He gives us a big confidence boost and improves our game by 10 to 20%.”

Leinster coach Michael Cheika travelled to France to see Agen play earlier in the season and regards them as a “talented” outfit who can quickly translate turnover ball into scores.

“They are very good and strong on the ground, they really attack the ball so it will be an interesting challenge for us to stay on our feet because once you are on the ground they are all over you. They tend to get that turnover ball out wide pretty quick so we have to pounce on that early on.

“Their pack is a mix of foreign and top French players while they have a choice at No 10 between Francois Gelez and Jerome Miquel, all depending on what sort of game they want to play. Their win at Gloucester in the last round shows they can play away from home and they ran the ball a fair bit at Kingsholm.”