Questions still remain for Leinster

THE lowest point in Leinster’s season came in Castres before Christmas when they lost a game they ought to have won. Coincidence or not, they have won three games since they could just as easily have lost.

Ulster, Connacht and now Cardiff have all been pipped in a photo finish, each one tighter than the last and few contests in any competition this season will provide a last act as dramatic as last Saturday’s.

Trailing by two points with 70 seconds to play, Felipe Contepomi tapped over what appeared to be a winning penalty, only to face another all-or-nothing kick minutes later after Nicky Robinson’s drop goal had restored the Blues’ lead.

Contepomi duly obliged with his seventh successful shot on goal and the resultant buzz should ripple deep ahead of Saturday’s season-defining Heineken Cup tie against Wasps in Twickenham.

“The ability to win close matches is something you really need, particularly in Heineken Cup-type tournaments, so we are happy to get away with that,” flanker Rocky Elsom agreed. “We didn’t get into our rhythm which has been a bit of a problem but we just picked ourselves up and kept scoring points. That was important.”

Michael Cheika mirrored such thoughts, both positive and negative, and the Leinster coach accepted this was another performance that fell some way short of the sublime.

There were glimpses of excellence from Rob Kearney, Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy but the back line continues to frustrate. Just as worrying, an array of decisions on personnel and positions have still to be made.

Chief among them is the identity of the number 10. Isa Nacewa is born for broken field running but lacked authority again at the weekend. Contepomi replaced him at out-half for the last 30 minutes and the Puma must be the leading candidate for the role.

That the back line is struggling has been painfully obvious all season and that was a point franked by the absence of a try on Saturday even though they engineered a handful of openings.

They came within inches on two occasions, once when O’Driscoll stepped into touch on the stroke of half-time and again when the centre’s touchdown was ruled out after 74 minutes.

As it was, the only try came from Andy Powell after half an hour. Though it owed a lot to Maama Molitka’s blatant obstruction of D’Arcy, it meant the Welsh side led 11-9 at the interval and they led for much of the second period too.

“We didn’t do well at the ruck,” said Cheika, pinpointing another factor in his side’s stuttering form. “We didn’t allow our backs to get going. There were some glimpses where they were able to get onto the ball. I thought at those times that they looked quite good but we had no build-up play. Understanding that, we showed good urgency to get into situations where we could score tries.”

One plus was the return after injury of captain Leo Cullen although CJ van der Linde’s first outing after his own layoff ended prematurely with a trip to hospital for a scan on a foot injury. The damage is unrelated to his previous calf complaint and early word is that the South African may be fit for London. Another medical report being eagerly awaited is that on Bernard Jackman who is rated 50/50 for Twickenham.

John Fogarty will be available after his one-match ban and that will be some relief to Leinster fans who nevertheless enjoyed the sight of emergency prop Ollie le Roux pounding into the Cardiff line for 15 minutes.

The win leaves Leinster joint second in the Magners League, two points adrift of Munster. The question remains whether they can reproduce the form that so devastated Wasps at the RDS last October.

“We were just really on that day,” said Elsom. “We still had some issues to work out but things just fell our way and that happens. We have been slowly building since that Castres defeat.

“Although you don’t want to lose any game, that did point to where we were falling down and we are working really hard on those areas.”

LEINSTER: R Kearney, S Horgan, B O’Driscoll, F Contepomi, G D’Arcy, I Nacewa, C Whitaker; S Wright, B Blaney, CJ van der Linde; L Cullen, D Toner; R Elsom, S O’Brien, J Heaslip.

Replacements: C Healy for van der Linde 34, L Fitzgerald for Nacewa 50, M O’Kelly for Toner 51, O le Roux for Blaney 67.

CARDIFF: L Halfpenny, G Thomas, J Robinson, T Shanklin, T James, N Robinson, J Spice; J Yapp, R Thomas, T Filise; B Davies, P Tito; M Molitka, R Sowden Taylor, A Powell.

Replacements: G Williams for Thomas 59, X Rush for Powell 59, G Jenkins for Yapp 64, R Rees for Spice 64, J Roberts for Shanklin 71.

Referee: P Allan (SRU).