Leinster gunning for revenge

THEY may lie on the cusp of qualification for the last eight of the Heineken Cup, but Michael Cheika will be warning his players to forget the bigger picture and focus on the task at hand against Edinburgh this Saturday.

Four points above Gloucester at the summit of Pool Two, Leinster hold the whip hand with two matches to go, although there is still plenty of potential for further twists in the road.

Gloucester need to depart Agen’s Stade Armandie with at least four points tomorrow night to take their pursuit of Leinster to Kingsholm the following weekend, but a bonus-point win over the Scots at Donnybrook before that would leave Leinster virtually untouchable.

But Cheika isn’t interested in conjecture and permutations.

“For us, there’s going to be a lot of things happening that we can’t worry about, like what happens the Friday night and the overall look of the pool. We’ve got to forget about all that stuff and play good football.

“Every time we do that we break into a good stride. We understand the disappointment we had (in Edinburgh) the last time and want to make sure that we maintain our position in terms of trying to qualify.”

Edinburgh should make them focus better than most, as it was the Gunners who blew a sizeable hole in the Irish side’s European ambitions at Murrayfield last November.

Not for the first time, Cheika spoke at length about the numbing effect that defeat had on the camp and he left no-one in any doubt as to what a reverse result would mean to them.

“In the overall context of our season and where we’re going, without making grandiose statements, I think the team is very focused on getting a result this week,” the Australian said.

Both Girvan Dempsey and Luke Fitzgerald have returned to the squad after injury, although Saturday may come too soon for the latter’s recuperating ankle.

The Gunners are definitely minus scrum-half Mike Blair and centre Rob Dewey. John Senio is poised to come in at nine while Andrew Easson or Matt Dey will deputise in midfield.

The changes may alter Edinburgh’s style slightly — Senio has more of a tendency to snipe around rucks and mauls, for instance — but, having met the Scots three times already this season, Cheika knows what to expect.

“We defended quite well against them up there last time because they do have that side to side pattern and they have also got this straight running option, and defending those is very important for us.

“Most important for us is defending at set pieces. We made far too many mistakes against them last time.

“We have to impose our style on the game and not let them dominate.”

Doing so with discipline will be crucial. In the past few weeks, Leinster have been criticised for an escalating penalty count, a bad habit that was evident in the Murrayfield defeat two months ago.

“In December I think we had three games early in the month where we were the most disciplined team in Europe with penalty counts under 10 every time. Then we had a couple of games where we transgressed so it’s not something that’s endemic.”

With Edinburgh so adept at maintaining possession for long periods, patience may be more of a virtue than usual.

Mental concentration will be of equal value.

Gordon D’Arcy lamented his side’s tendency to switch off the lights at inopportune times earlier this week. Witness the two late Ospreys tries last weekend — and it was also a contributing factor in their downfall in Murrayfield.

“We lost a fair bit of our set piece up there in Edinburgh,” Cheika said.

“We lost a bit of control and they put us in the corners and pressed our line-out a little bit. They have an excellent kicking game. (Hugo) Southwell has an excellent kick.

“I think our set piece has come on a long way the last month.

“We’re more confident in what we’re doing in that area. It’s about not sacrificing the ball too easily and playing a bit of keep-ball perhaps.”