Cheika: we’ll keep fighting to the death
With two rounds to go, even a bonus point victory against Toulouse at the RDS on Saturday would be useless unless the unthinkable happens, and the French side lose their last game at home to Edinburgh.
Should all those stars align, the Irish province would still need to defeat Leicester at Welford Road, so it was not unreasonable to ask the Leinster coach how difficult it has been to gee up his troops this week.
“You’ve got to keep good performances going,” he replied. “Just because something doesn’t work out for you, you can’t throw it in a heap and say ‘oh I can’t get them ready to play well anymore’.
“We want to show that we’re right up there and competing, and we need to show it even more after our last performance in Europe (losing to Edinburgh), more than before.
“We may not have all our artillery out there, but we have to make sure we pride ourselves on being able to beat the best teams in Europe. When we do that more regularly, then we’ll be more regular qualifiers, as we have the last few years.”
Even if their demeanour and determination can be confidently predicted, their first 15 cannot, as Cheika seems to have more combinations open to him right now than a Rubik’s Cube.
Shane Jennings, Keith Gleeson and Stephen Keogh will again find that three into two won’t go in the back row while injuries mean the front row is another area to be mulled over. The previously-set-in-stone back line is even more interesting.
Will Jonathan Sexton be retained at 10, with Felipe Contepomi stationed at inside centre and the out-of-form Gordon D’Arcy left on the bench? Much will depend on the week’s ongoing injury reports.
Shane Horgan has been named in the squad after missing the holiday victories over Ulster and Ospreys with a rib injury but Cheika believes his chances are less, rather than, more favourable.
Rob Kearney is also recovering from a knock sustained last Saturday, Stan Wright is similarly questionable while Ollie le Roux hasn’t been totally ruled out of contention, despite being omitted from the 26-man squad.
“Back row, front row, scrum half and the combination of the back line. It’s not lip service, they’re real challenges. They’re real decisions to make and that’s a good situation for us to be in.
“It is tough and it’s going to be tough on some of the players to be left out, but when that player gets left out, next time he gets a chance he’s going to make sure he takes it.”
Scribbling a Toulouse team sheet is a similar waste of lead at this point thanks, not to any loss of personnel, but to a star-studded team roster that was only strengthened during the summer. Nowhere has the successful combination of old and new been more evident than at scrum-half, where Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and Byron Kelleher have scrapped away for possession of the jersey.
“Looking at them, I think they’ve told Kelleher, early on, to play the Toulouse type of game: organise a bit more and shift the ball out wide and then just take your opportunities when they come.
“He looks like he’s enjoying his football very much. He’s a difficult person to handle, he’s a class operator, and whether it’s him or Elissalde, you’ve got your hands full regardless around the fringe of the ruck.
“They’ve got that threat there. If you open your defence too wide to cover their width, they’ll take you in the middle because they’ve got good runners and organisers in the middle area just inside the first receiver.”
The musical chairs hasn’t affected their rhythm, as was evidenced by the 21-point defeat of Castres last weekend that saw them retain their place at the top of the domestic championship.
Like Leinster three months ago, Castres actually competed quite well for much of the game but were punished mercilessly when their application levels dropped and one or two loose kicks made an appearance.
“They’ve been pretty emphatic right through the season so far, haven’t they? I think they’ve lost two games, one in the championship and one in Europe. They’ve recruited quite well in the off-season and that’s allowed them to have some depth.
“Players that may have been there for a while are playing well because there are other players primed to step in.”
Forwards: C Healy, R McCormack, B Blaney, B Jackman, S Knoop, S Wright, L Cullen, T Hogan, C Jowitt, M O’Kelly, S Keogh, K Gleeson, S Jennings, J Heaslip.
Backs: G Easterby, C Keane, F Contepomi, J Sexton, L Fitzgerald, R Kearney, G D’Arcy, C Warner, B O’Driscoll, G Brown, S Horgan, G Dempsey.
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