Canny Richards plays down chances

DEAN RICHARDS may have been a master of the dark arts during his playing days, but last night he demonstrated he still knows the value of the oldest trick in the book: playing down your chances before your biggest game of the season.

The Harlequins director of rugby has transformed the club from a National League One side to European contenders in four years, with their impressive progress set to be fully tested when Brian O’Driscoll and Leinster visit the Stoop for Sunday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final.

To say Quins are in a rich vein of form would be an understatement — they have won nine of their last 10 games in all competitions. But despite that run Richards is refusing to accept the tag of favourites ahead of a game which will see the winner face Munster or Ospreys in the last four.

Instead, he prefers to focus on Leinster’s qualities, although his disingenuous suggestion that his side are rank outsiders is likely to draw a smirk from Michael Cheika and his men.

“On paper Leinster have to be favourites by a long stretch,” said Richards, whose side topped Heineken Cup Pool Four — twice beating Stade Francais — and are second in the Guinness Premiership.

“They’re a great side, ably led by Ireland’s Grand Slam-winning captain Brian O’Driscoll. So it’s going to be a very, very difficult task. Then you have Felipe Contepomi, Gordon D’Arcy and O’Driscoll, coupled with Luke Fitzgerald on the wing, and Rob Kearney at full-back — it’s not a bad backline at all, is it?

“People say they’re a bit weak up front but they have a quality pack that will be very combative, allied to a world-class backline. We know they’ll want to get lots of ball to their backs and we have to make sure they don’t — the breakdown is going to be such a combative area for us.”

But while it is easy to quibble with Richards’ view on who will start as underdogs, there can be no arguing that his team have come on in leaps and bounds during the last 12 months. From failing to win a single game in last season’s Heineken Cup they are now most people’s dark horse for the trophy, with a team based on incisive running and an obdurate defence that mirrors Richards’ own values.

And Richards is clearly revelling in the way his side have challenged the elite sides, revealing how the players control training sessions and have matured due to the experience of winning both well and regularly.

He added: “The experience we are getting within the side means we’re a far more composed and mature team than this time last year.

“We also have strength in depth now, and the measure of the side is such that the coaches are very comfortable with giving the players the lead and saying ‘get on with it’.

“And we’re looking forward to Sunday. The intensity is probably going to be in our favour in some respects as we’re at home — it will certainly be a very interesting game.”

New Zealand fly-half Evans is bullish about Quins’ prospect of victory. Yet one aspect both agree on is that the hosts must limit Leinster’s ball supply, with Contepomi likely to be targeted as soon as he looks to instigate an attack.

“We believe we can win,” explained Evans. “We have to be very wary of Leinster and make sure we don’t give them too much ball. They are probably one of the best backlines in Europe, let alone in Ireland.

“We certainly don’t want to give them the ball with room to play in. If you give someone like Contepomi an inch he’ll take a mile — but we’ll have a few tricks up our sleeve for Sunday, don’t worry!”