McCormack: Leinster pack will deliver
Only the injured Malcolm O’Kelly and Keith Gleeson are unavailable from what would be considered Michael Cheika’s first-choice starting eight and prop Ronan McCormack admits that the onus is therefore heavier on the ‘grunts’ this evening.
“It’s almost a flip of what he have when we’re at full strength. Everyone’s aware of that. We’ve adapted to that before so we know we can do it. It adds certain responsibility onto certain players’ shoulders but that shouldn’t be a problem,” he said.
Scottish packs don’t tend to carry with them a fearsome reputation but McCormack is a card carrying member of their fan club all the same.
In Scott Murray, Edinburgh possess the ability to be hugely disruptive on the opponent’s throw and McCormack attributes their two victories over Leinster earlier this season directly to their foraging at the breakdown.
“Scottish teams are renowned for their low body height at rucks and if you’re not on your game they can turn over a lot of ball there and win a lot of penalties,” said the former Ulster player. “With a guy like (Chris) Paterson in their team, you don’t want to be doing that.”
Leinster will be expected to entertain even with fringe players like Gary Brown, Michael Berne and Kieran Lewis replacing Shane Horgan, Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy.
The Irish province racked up 88 points in their last two Magners League games against the Scarlets and the Ospreys, but both results carried a caveat, with 56 points being conceded and Australian Owen Finegan is hopeful that their efforts in training succeed in plugging some of the gaps.
“We’ve been getting bashed defensively (in training) the last few weeks. That’s something we’re looking forward to improving as a team.
“With the calibre of the players we’ve got we don’t have to do much work on our attack because there’s so much individual ability and blokes know how to break the line. The way we can improve our game is by upping the ante in our defence.”
Upping the ante is something the province’s Ireland A contingent will be doubly keen on tonight after the disappointing 32-5 defeat to England Saxons in Belfast seven days ago.
McCormack, Gleeson, Trevor Hogan, Rob Kearney, Bernard Jackman and Kieran Lewis were all on duty in Ravenhill on a night when basic errors and poor discipline compounded an imperfect period of preparation.
“It was a very disappointing night, especially considering our record against England A has been in recent years,” said McCormack. “We went into the game with very fractured preparation. There were a few injuries in the senior squad in the build-up to the French match and that had a knock-on affect for the A match.
Game time might have been severely limited for Leinster in recent weeks but the province will still be much more in tune than Ireland A were last week and they shouldn’t have to waste much time swotting up on the opposition either.
Three times the pair have met thanks to their proximity in pool two of the Heineken Cup with Leinster avenging the two defeats with a convincing 49-10 win in Europe last month.
“This time it will be a different story, They’re third in the Magners League, it’s the only competition they have to go for.”
R Kearney, G Brown, K Lewis, C Warner, M Berne, F Contepomi (c), C Whitaker; R McCormack, B Jackman, W Green, T Hogan, D Toner, S Keogh, N Ronan, J Heaslip.
AN Other, B Blaney, A Byrnes, O Finegan, G Easterby, J Sexton, F McFadden.
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