Leinster bank on Jennings ban appeal
The Irish international received the suspension after being found guilty of punching during the Magners League win over Connacht at the RDS and has already missed last weekend’s win over the Cardiff Blues.
Leinster feel they have a strong case, however. The length of Jennings’ ban was greeted with general surprise last week with teammate John Fogarty only receiving a seven-day reprimand despite the fact that there were more punches thrown during his own bout of fisticuffs in the Connacht game.
Fogarty returns to the 26-man panel for the weekend visit to London as does Bernard Jackman, who sat out the Blues victory because of a knee injury. The hooker participated fully in yesterday’s training session and is expected to feature in the Pool Two tie.
CJ van der Linde suffered a foot injury on his return from a calf complaint last weekend and, though a subsequent scan didn’t reveal anything serious, Leinster are playing the wait-and-see game.
Wasps are down Tom Rees and Tom Palmer with question marks over Raphael Ibanez, Simon Shaw and Joe Worsley.
Leinster coach Michael Cheika admitted yesterday the last three games — against Ulster, Connacht and Cardiff — have persuaded him to rethink some positions. Jonathan Sexton and Isa Nacewa have both failed to convince at out-half in recent months and the likelihood is that Felipe Contepomi will be asked to return to the berth from inside centre.
“The luxury for us is that we always have the opportunity to change mid-game if we have to,” said Cheika. “We tried to do that the other night in the RDS (against the Blues), and we’ve done it before. We’ve replaced Johnny Sexton and put Isa in at five-eighth.
“We’ve done the same with Johnny and Fil. We’re trying to use our different talents to impact change in the matches if we need them. You can prepare all you like, but sometimes there are dynamics in the game you have to deal with. That is something we’ll be very mindful of as we select the side.”
The only time Leinster came close to pressing the right buttons was last October against Wasps in the RDS. Since, it has been a case of grit over glitz.
Cheika says he isn’t “naive” about the fact they need to play better but he peppers his conversation with nuggets of information suggesting the team isn’t as far from clicking as their performances have indicated.
Three of their four defeats this season have been by three points or less, with Munster the only side to beat them by more.
“I’ve got a lot of belief in the team, always have. We took a lot of criticism after the game in France. You can’t get away from that pressure. It gets to you, it gets to the players.”
Billed as the ‘Battle of the Capitals’, the defeat in Castres has left Leinster just three points ahead of Wasps. For once at this late stage of the group stages, permutations mean little to either side. Saturday is do or die.
“Most of these games are test match intensity. Results have ramifications, until you qualify. Our objective is to qualify number one. To do that, we have to win the game.
“We have approached every game in the European Cup so far with that [must-win] attitude. The majority of the time we’ve been able to perform accordingly. Now, we have to take the feeling of those performances and bring them to the game on Saturday.”
Leinster squad (v London Wasps): Forwards: C Healy, S Wright, B Jackman, J Fogarty, O le Roux, CJ van der Linde, L Cullen, D Toner, T Hogan, M O’Kelly, R Elsom, Stephen Keogh, S O’Brien, J Heaslip. Backs: C Keane, C Whitaker, I Nacewa, J Sexton, G D’Arcy, Simon Keogh, F Contepomi, L Fitzgerald, B O’Driscoll, S Horgan, G Dempsey, R Kearney.
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