Jennings looks to make amends

THIS time last year, Leinster were one of the 16 teams knocked off the Heineken Cup wagon as it moved on towards the knockout stages and Shane Jennings has no intention of being left behind again.

Unlike 12 months ago, the province is still very much in contention for a quarter-final berth going into round six and the Dublin-born flanker is confident that they can cope with the pressures the coming weekend will bring.

“They’re a good bunch of players. It’s a good squad and I think the hurt we’ve had in the past can drive us on,’’ Jennings says. “We really are working hard this week to prepare properly, so when it comes to the game we have to step up and take our opportunity.”

As ever with the final pool fixtures, the permutations are almost endless with Wasps’ game in Castres and a handful of other ties from various pools all holding significance for Leinster’s ultimate fate.

Better Wasps’ result in France — which may require four tries against Edinburgh on Sunday — and they will top the group.

Other scorelines will decide whether or not they can claim a home quarter-final for the first time since 2005 but they are outsiders in that particular race.

One factor in their favour is the weekend schedule. Leinster will kick off at lunchtime on Sunday and the only relevant fixture that won’t have been decided by then will be the Bath-Toulouse tie at The Rec.

“We’re very excited at the prospect of having it in our control. That’s a positive no matter what happens on the Friday or Saturday. We know that if we go out, play well and win we have a good chance of going through.

“Whether we get the four tries or not is not an issue for us. We want to implement the processes. We want to go through. If that happens, we feel we’re good enough to give anybody a run, especially Edinburgh.

“A lot of teams are in the same position as us,” he added. “People think Edinburgh don’t have that much to play for, but they’d love to come over here and blow our candles. We’re not taking that for granted.”

One of the match-ups which could have repercussions for Leinster’s ambitions is the Pool Three clash of Ospreys and Leicester at Liberty Stadium on Saturday evening.

As a former Tiger, Jennings might be expected to know the lay of the land and what the fixture might mean to his current club but it seems he has eyes only for the RDS this weekend.

“Not to sound smart, I actually have no clue. I don’t know what the permutations are. It’s important Leicester beat Ospreys? Then let’s go Leicester. It will be a very difficult game.

“Everyone knows how good Ospreys are, but I don’t think Leicester will fear going there. They don’t really fear going many places. The Ospreys are licking their lips waiting for them, because it’s a big scalp to get. You make the call: I don’t know.”

That single-minded approach extends to international matters. Though named in Declan Kidney’s extended Six Nations squad on Wednesday, Jennings wasn’t giving it much thought.

“Nobody is really thinking about it at the minute. People are obviously delighted to get into the squad, and I’m personally very happy too, but we’re just concentrating on this weekend because we realise how important it is for Leinster. I certainly want to be playing my best and putting a big effort into that game.”

For now, he seems grateful just to be fit and able to report for duty. His season has been littered with minor injuries which have prevented him time and again from getting into his full stride.

Barring disaster, he will wear the number seven shirt on Sunday and it will be only the second time this season that he has done so in three successive games for the province.

Injuries have pretty much dominated Leinster’s entire landscape this week what with Leo Cullen and CJ van der Linde both ruled out and a number of other players carrying knocks and bangs picked up in last week’s game in London.

It was another frustrating day for the province, in Twickenham, but the squad itself seems intent on taking the positives out of that Wasps defeat given the losses in personnel which they suffered.

“I was proud of what the lads put in. As much as we can take positives from it, we were still very upset because we felt we did a lot of good things, but certain things we didn’t and we want to improve on them for this week.”