Contepomi looks set to face Munster
The Argentinian international damaged a medial ligament in his country’s narrow defeat to France last month and was expected be sidelined for six weeks.
Cheika was always confident of his out-half beating that timeline and his optimism was proven to be correct with the inclusion of the former Bristol player in an expanded 30-man squad for the clash with Munster on December 27th.
“We’re obviously hoping to get him back as soon as possible,” said the Australian. “He’s confident so whether he’ll be in line to play Munster or not I can’t be sure as of yet. We’ve also included (Jonathan) Sexton because (Christian) Warner is carrying an injury from the Agen away game. We’re covering all bases.”
Warner picked up some swollen ribs in last weekend’s Heineken Cup visit to France but the injury isn’t thought to be serious. Brian Blaney, who had to retire early in that game, has also received good news with an x-ray this week revealing that he suffered no long-term cartilage damage.
Heartening as those snippets are, yesterday was all about Contepomi. The 30-year-old has yet to train since his misfortune in the Stade de France and, though Leinster have coped admirably without him, Cheika was candid about the importance of the number ten.
“He’s probably irreplaceable at that level in that he produces a lot of his own brilliance as well as the team’s brilliance but we want to make sure he’s fully recovered before he’s back on the field.”
At the same time the Leinster coach doesn’t quite agree that the Puma’s absence was a kind of ‘nightmare before Christmas’ scenario.
“I wouldn’t be putting it into the nightmare category. We know what our squad is and we understand where we have our players. We’re always catering for situations because we know there are going to be injuries.’’
Thrusting Contepomi back into the thick of it against Munster may be a bridge too far so Dunne or Warner will probably get one more opportunity to cut their teeth at this level before the main man’s return.
That will mean a slightly different approach to the one they would usually take. How exactly they tailor their game in Limerick will depend on whether it is Dunne or Warner who get the nod.
“You have to approach the matches differently. Felipe’s a top player and you have to strategise a little bit differently without him, both as a player and as a goal kicker. We just merge our plans according to the player, whether it’s Christian or Andy.
“The opposition comes into it too as we saw with the Agen games. We got a bit more width with Christian (at home) and the away game we tried to mix and match by getting in behind and running it a bit more. He’s a hard player to replace.”
Contepomi hasn’t been the only one. Prop Will Green has also been conspicuous by his absence because of a neck problem and, with his replacement Fosi Pala’amo also sidelined through injury, the recently recruited Stanley Wright has had to plug the gap.
Pala’amo may yet be fit in time for the New Year’s Eve clash with Ulster at Lansdowne Road – the last game ever at the old ground – but Green’s return is the one Cheika will be most eager for.
“It’s really going to be up to Will and how confident he feels with that injury,” said Cheika. “He put his head into a coupe of scrums (on Tuesday) which gave him a bit of confidence, no doubt about that.
“He’s definitely much more upbeat about returning sooner rather than later. I can’t see him playing in this period but we’ll see how he is in the New Year and assess him before the next round of Heineken matches.”
LEINSTER squad (v Munster): Forwards: R McCormack, R Corrigan, B Blaney, H Vermaas, 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, F Contepomi, C Warner, J Sexton, D Hickie, R Kearney, G D’Arcy, B O’Driscoll, K Lewis, S Horgan, L Fitzgerald, G Dempsey.
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