Fitzgerald keeps Leinster’s dream alive

THE Leinster sports psychologists and chaplins will be kept busy this week.

The province’s seven-point victory over the French kingpins coupled with Leicester Tigers’ shock defeat to Edinburgh keeps alive hopes of a Heineken Cup quarter-final berth.

To prevent those hopes from extinguishing, Michael Cheika’s side must win away to the wounded Tigers in their final Pool 6 match and then hope Andy Robinson’s side can produce another giant-killing act at Stade Ernest Wallon on Saturday. Even then, Toulouse could progress.

That’s where the mind guru and the power of prayer come into play.

Cheika’s post-match comments were peppered with words like “believe” and “miracle” as he set out his stall for Welford Road.

Admitted the coach: “A win in Leicester might not be enough. But we have to believe.”

“The best teams in Europe, and Toulouse are amongst those, don’t give away points easily. It was always a huge struggle. We had opportunities to score more tries, but Toulouse defended very well. They don’t make it easy for anyone and we didn’t expect they would.”

Cheika, admitting it would take “a bit of a miracle” to qualify, said his team would not be afraid of taking on the might of Leicester.

He explained: “Beat them in Dublin, no reason why we can’t beat them there. We’ve got to go for it.”

And he is confident that Edinburgh can then do their Celtic cousin a favour on French soil. “As we, and Leicester have found out, they’re a good side, a capable side, and they shouldn’t be ruled out. I’d love to think they could provide a shock.”

Were it not for Luke Fitzgerald, Cheika might not have spoken in such an optimistic manner. The young Leinster and Irish winger, overlooked in Eddie O’Sullivan’s World Cup squad, grabbed two tries to put the European aristocrats to the sword. Jamie Heaslip, with a rousing display at number eight, won the Man of the Match award, but Fitzgerald, may have been a more worthy candidate.

He noted: “At his age, he’s not the finished article, but he is a very good player and his physicality at ruck time is a big positive. He knows when to go and how to go forward; he’s pretty good overall for a guy so young.”

Although not everything Leinster did was perfect, Cheika was pleased with the display of his forward pack, and young prop forward Cian Healy in particular, who must surely have impressed O’Sullivan ahead of today’s Six Nations squad announcement.

Thanks to the power of the pack, Leinster dominated the opening half. Felipe Contepomi kicked his side into an early lead with a penalty, and the hosts dominated territory before a yellow card for Toulouse second row Gregory Lamboley provided them an opportunity to exploit.

They battered the Toulouse line following the sin-binning before Fitzgerald stormed in for a try in the 32nd minute. Contepomi linked with O’Driscoll twice before slipping an inside pass to the winger who raced in for a try that the out half converted.

A 10-point advantage was no less than Leinster deserved but they lost concentration and conceded a penalty to Valentin Courrent in the 43rd minute.

Leinster lived dangerously in the opening minutes of the second half and conceded another penalty to Courrent after 13 minutes.

Leinster surged into an 11-point lead, with Fitzgerald scrambling over for a try at the corner (courtesy of a perfectly directed long pass from Gordon D’Arcy) and Contepomi converted magnificently. The hosts were unlucky to be called back (forward pass) after O’Driscoll sent Stan Wright in for the game-clinching try.

Instead, Toulouse hit back with a dramatic try from replacement Yves Donguy in the 70th minute and Courrent converted to narrow the gap to just four for the second time.

Still, it worked for them in the end, although it took Contepomi to bring them to their senses with a late drop goal when he opted against that high risk route. It was enough to keep their slim qualification hopes alive, but not enough to allow Toulouse escape with what could be a crucial bonus point.

LEINSTER: G. Dempsey, L. Fitzgerald, B. O’Driscoll (captain), G. D’Arcy, R. Kearney, F. Contepomi, C. Keane, S. Wright, B. Jackman, S. Knoop, L. Cullen, M. O’Kelly, S. Jennings, J. Heaslip, K. Gleeson.

Replacements: C. Healy for Knoop (half time), G. Easterby for Keane (51), B. Blaney for Jackman (68), S. Keogh for Gleeson (72) TOULOUSE: C. Poitrenaud, V. Clerc, N. Kunavore, F. Fritz, C. Heymans, V. Courrent, B. Kelleher, D. Hunan, W. Servat, J.B. Poux, F. Pelous (captain), G. Lamboley, F. Nyanga, T. Dusautoir, S. Sowerby.

Replacements: J. B Elissalde for Kelleher (half time), R. Millo Chlusky for Lamboley (55), Y. Donguy for Kunavore, V. La Combe for Servat (both 64).

Referee: W. Barnes (England).