Fears push could come to shove for Leinster pack

THE doubts surrounding Leinster’s ability to qualify from Pool Two of the Heineken Cup are swirling overhead as they depart for France, but Michael Cheika insists his side have what it takes to surpass even last year’s achievement.

Last season, the Irish province made its way to the semi-final stages from an equally precarious position and they will need a repeat if they are to leave Agen with a win on Saturday.

Two of the side’s last three group games are on the road and, having let a win slip through their fingers in Edinburgh in the last round, the margin for error is painfully thin.

“I really feel there is a strong sense of belief within the group because the question we will ask ourselves is how much we want to be in the tournament. We get a win down here and we’re right in it,” said Cheika.

“I know with the scrum there seems a lot of doubt with that part of our game from the outside but we have a lot of belief internally that we can change it. We are probably used to being criticised — with reason, a lot of the time — but we have built a lot of belief internally that when the chips are down we can get out of those situations.”

Though Cheika insisted last week that this next game is by no means a ‘must-win’, it isn’t hard to see similarities with last year’s situation.

One enquiry at yesterday’s press conference even compared it to the Herculean task of defeating Toulouse in France. Cheika dismissed that but accepted the import of their latest task all the same.

“I think the players are going to be using that a lot because we are going to be under the pump down there. If it’s not the scrum, it’s going to be other areas, because this is a very decisive match in the pool. It’s going to be very important how much we want to go through.”

A winter bug has struck the camp in the last few weeks, with Brian O’Driscoll, Brian Blaney, Shane Horgan and Ronan McCormack affected, though none have been ruled out of the squad unchanged from last week.

Their chances of departing Toulouse airport on Saturday night with an invaluable win will depend to an enormous extent on how their scrum stands up.

Last week, Agen destroyed the Leinster pack at scrum time and, with only seven days separating the two fixtures, the best Leinster can probably hope for is to slap a band-aid over the front row in particular and hope it lasts the 80-plus minutes.

Cheika admitted that there was no point in attempting to reinvent the wheel.

Reggie Corrigan may yet be drafted in to start, though Cheika seems happy with the veteran’s contribution from the bench.

Whatever the decision, the Australian expressed his confidence that, between himself, Mike Brewer and Roly Meates, they would be able to conjure up something to buttress their biggest weakness.

“You do what you always do, you work on the problems. In the scrum we’ve obviously analysed closely what we’ve done right and wrong. We have worked on the information we’ve gleaned from working opposite them last week and they’ll probably change the configuration of their front row.”

New prop Stanley Wright was picked out for special criticism in the wake of last week’s difficulties, with one commentator going as far as to say that the Cook Islander could not “hold a wall up” such were his travails in the scrum.

Cheika pointed out that Leinster’s scrum continued to haemorrhage even after the new recruit was pulled out at the break, adding that the cruel jibe did nobody any favours.

“I personally am not into making jokes about people. I don’t think that’s respectful to anybody. Everyone is allowed their opinion and we got pushed back a couple of times, so they’re allowed to say that too.

“What I’m interested in is what we need to do to get the ball. When you break it down, that’s all you need to do. I’m not worried about how people assess a particular player.”

Be that as it may, there is no getting away from the intense scrutiny that Leinster’s goal kicker will face after the difficulties experienced by Girvan Dempsey and Gordon D’Arcy in front of the posts at Lansdowne Road.

Those difficulties may yet see Andy Dunne usurp Christian Warner at out-half, especially given the fact that Leinster’s last two pool games in France, against Bourgoin, were decided by less than three points.

“The week before in Belfast, we felt that Andy was the right option. Last week in Dublin we felt that Christian was the right option and didn’t even have Andy on the bench. We’ll wait and see.”

LEINSTER SQUAD (v Agen): Forwards: R McCormack, R Corrigan, B Blaney, H Vermass, B Jackman, S Wright, T Hogan, M O’Kelly, O Finegan, C Jowitt, S Keogh, K Gleeson, J Heaslip.

Backs: C Whitaker, G Easterby, A Dunne, C Warner, D Hickie, R Kearney, G D’Arcy, B O’Driscoll, K Lewis, S Horgan, L Fitzgerald, G Dempsey.