Cheika wary of French resistance
It would be an understandable conclusion, however; the French have no chance of Heineken Cup progress, have a serious injury crisis and face a battle to remain in the French Top 14.
Castres forward coach Jeremy Davidson said as much in the aftermath of Saturday’s stroll in the park for the Magners League champions at the RDS.
Davidson was at pains to underline the necessity of pulling away from the domestic relegation zone and admitted that an upcoming fixture against Perpignan was more important than Friday night’s clash with Leinster. However Cheika has no interest in sob stories from the south of France. “It’s not going to be easy. Castres might be running second last in their league but, if you have a look, they haven’t had a lot of tries scored against them and they’re losing matches by small margins; maybe they tend to give away too many penalties and that has hurt them more than anything,” he said.
Cheika has his homework done, right down to the weather. “It looks like we’re in for a forward-orientated battle, we’re going there expecting a real hard match, a real dogfight. It’s going to be tough, I’m sure of that.”
Based on Saturday’s Leinster victory and Castres’ growing crippling injury list — they lost Cameron McIntyre, Rafael Carballo and Darron Nell for the rematch — it shouldn’t be that tough, but Leinster will still need to improve in certain areas. One only hopes the failure to secure a bonus point won’t come back to haunt them.
On the plus side, the home side dominated the forward exchanges, did well out of touch, scrummaged comfortably and unearthed another lively talent in back row forward Sean O’Brien, who was, according to his coach, “conspicuous”.
Leinster won’t be happy with the number of handling errors behind the scrum nor with their apparent inability to clear out the rucks.
Castres succeeded in slowing down possession and then frustrating Leinster with dogged, in-your-face defence. It unsettled quality players like Brian O’Driscoll, Luke Fitzgerald and Rob Kearney; consequently the back division, apart from Shane Horgan, often looked frustrated and ill-at-ease going forward.
But protested Cheika: “If we weren’t creating any opportunities at all, then I would be far more worried; we can fix mistakes, it’s about applying ourselves on the day.”
The European season is effectively over for Castres, all they can now hope for is to bow out with honour and utilise the opportunity of two home fixtures against both Leinster and Wasps to restore pride and build confidence for the remainder of their domestic struggle.
But if Davidson was unfurling the white flag of surrender, he stopped short of waving it. “Our fans will still buy into this game because a European fixture is a huge occasion for Castres. Our focus may be on the French championship but we certainly don’t want to go into the Perpignan game on the back of another defeat,” he said.
The early stages of Saturday’s game were hardly the most inspiring for Leinster, who had to survive a couple of early threats from bulky Castres winger Charles Sika, but home advantage and a growing forward dominance bore fruit with out half Jonathon Sexton knocking over penalties in the 13th, 18th and 28th minutes.
Leinster deserved to build on that lead but the opening try was still somewhat fortuitous. Horgan was aware to catch a poor pass, chipping and catching, before sending Bernard Jackman away, but the hooker deserves praise for the delightful show of dexterity that allowed him dive in near the posts. Sexton kicked the conversion for a 16-0 lead before Anthony Lagardere opened the visitors’ account with a penalty, responded to by Sexton after 54 minutes.
Leinster dominated the remained and added 14 points, with tries from O’Driscoll and Simon Keogh and two conversions from David Holwell.
LEINSTER: G. Dempsey, S. Horgan, B. O’Driscoll, L. Fitzgerald, R. Kearney, J. Sexton, C. Whitaker (captain), S. Wright, B. Jackman, CJ Van Der Linde, D. Toner, M. O’Kelly, R. Elsom, J. Heaslip, S. O’Brien.
Replacements: D. Holwell for Sexton (61), C Keane for Whitaker, T. Hogan for Toner, C. Healy for CJ Van Der Linde, Simon Keogh for Dempsey (all 69), S. Keogh for O’Brien (70), B. Blaney for O’Driscoll (77, injured), temporary, Blaney for Jackman (5-13)
CASTRES: C. McIntyre, C. Sika, S. Kefu, L. Mazars, R. Carballo, A. Lagardere, K. Senio, G. Lensing, M. Bonello, L. Ducalcon, L. Michaux, C. Gaston (captain), L. Tomiki, F. Faure, D. Nell.
Replacements: S. Molonga for Nell (27, inj), T. Bouquie for Carballo (28, injured), A Giordadze for Bonello (51), F. Staibano for Ducalcon (58), Y Forestier for Lensing (62). L Tekori for Michaux (72).
Referee: P. Allan (Scotland).
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