Leinster look for bonus point victory to secure title

THERE are a few permutations to juggle with as the chase for the Magners League title takes the bell this weekend, but the bottom line is simple: win with a bonus point in Cardiff tonight and Leinster will be champions.

Complicating matters is the fact that the Blues — despite their disastrous loss to Llanelli last weekend — still have an outside shot of breasting the tape if they deny the Irish side, but the real threat lies elsewhere, with the Ospreys.

Should Michael Cheika’s side take anything less than the full five points from tonight’s tie at the Arms Park, the Ospreys would need only claim the bonus win from their fixture against the Borders at Netherdale to finish top. With that game on 24 hours after Leinster’s, and Borders bottom of the table and playing their last game before the SRU pulls the plug, Lyn Jones’ side will be keeping their end of the deal.

A big ask for Leinster then.

Cardiff virtually torpedoed their title ambitions this time last year at the Millennium Stadium, so it is no surprise that Cheika is dismissing all talk of bonus points tonight next door at the Arms Park.

“We’ve just tried to keep playing and getting wins. We’ve always focused on performances. I know that sounds like pie in the sky but, if we keep performing, we’ll get the result. We’ll let the other factors take care of themselves.

“With their last game on the day after ours we can’t do anything about that anyway. We won’t know what we’ll have to do. We’ll just go down there and try to play well. If we do that, we’ll hopefully get a win.”

Leinster have stuttered rather than swept to within touching distance of the title. Since the end of the Six Nations their form has been patchy, losing three (including the Heineken Cup loss to Wasps) and winning three without ever stringing together a complete 80-minute performance.

Away defeats to Glasgow and, particularly, to the Ospreys last month have left them in their precarious position and wing Rob Kearney has gone so far as to admit that he is surprised to still be in the hunt.

“I agree with some of the commentary that, since April, we have made some mistakes,” said Cheika. “It has stopped our fluidity. We have shown some good things and then we punctuated that with mistakes, mainly in handling, and that’s not usually a trademark of ours.

“We’re going through a patch where we have to be disciplined and find that form again. We’re still being competitive but we could be finishing and winning games better if we weren’t making those mistakes.”

Cheika has plumped for an unchanged team from that which beat the Borders 31-0 last weekend, which means Reggie Corrigan, Will Green and Guy Easterby will get the opportunity to wave goodbye on the highest of notes.

With Brian O’Driscoll still on sick leave, Shane Horgan will again partner Gordon D’Arcy in the centre but they face a changed Blues side from that which saw their league hopes go pear-shaped against the Scarlets.

Marc Stcherbina replaces the injured Tom Shanklin, who suffered a minor back injury against Llanelli, at inside centre while Nicky Robinson comes in at outside half for Nick McLeod.

In the forwards, Gareth Williams, Robert Sidoli and Mark Lewis come in, as does Robin Sowden-Taylor in place of Martyn Williams who suffered bruising to his foot on Saturday.

Cheika is hopeful they have learned enough from last year’s defeat to push them over the line tonight.

“It’s important we look back to that game last year. We might not have been able to win it but we certainly could have. There was quite a big crowd. It was a pretty expansive game and we only lost it in the last couple of minutes, so we’ve got to make sure we take lessons from that because their personnel are very similar this time.”

Leinster’s will be altered considerably for next season but a title tonight would be a welcome foundation stone on which to rebuild. Last year, they were shaded to the title by Ulster and saw their European ambitions squashed at Lansdowne Road.

Cheika has stated repeatedly his belief that this season’s side is a better vintage than last year’s, but he believes progress has been made regardless of the events in Wales this evening.

“It’ll make it a bloody good year if we can win it and make up for some of the disappointment in not going further in the other tournament.”

CARDIFF: B Blair, R Williams, J Robinson, M Stcherbina, C Czekaj, N Robinson, M Phillips; X Rush, R Sowden Taylor, M Lewis, R Sidoli, D Jones, G Powell, Gareth Williams, Gethin Jenkins.

LEINSTER: G Dempsey, R Kearney, S Horgan, G D’Arcy, D Hickie, F Contepomi, G Easterby; R Corrigan, B Jackman, W Green, T Hogan, M O’Kelly, S Keogh, K Gleeson, J Heaslip.

REFEREE: Malcolm Changleng (SRU).