Ideal tonic for Leinster ahead of Munster test

THIS was a game to get over and for a large part of it, Leinster played that way.

Once Welsh referee James Jones brought what was largely a turgid affair to an end, thoughts were turning to Saturday’s titanic Heineken Cup semi-final with arch rivals Munster.

Head coach Michael Cheika couldn’t really be accused of indulging in mind games by handing the favourites’ mantle to the champions. But the Australian insists his side will be at their very best when it counts.

“Munster are strong favourites because they’ve been pretty untouchable this year,” he said. “But we believe in ourselves and our supporters do. We’ll take that belief and play a really good game on the day and see what happens.”

With 55 minutes gone, those supporters might have been forgiven for fearing the worst. Cheika had picked pretty much his strongest team, including three Lions, and was clearly looking to lay a marker. Glasgow disrupted them up front though, especially at lineout time, and with the half-back combination out of sorts, little was seen of Brian O’Driscoll, Luke Fitzgerald or Gordon D’Arcy.

By the end though, the confidence had returned and Leinster were playing with a verve unrecognisable from the opening period, finishing with a five-try, bonus-point win.

“We like to play attacking football,” Cheika declared. We’d like to play a lot more but we didn’t deliver enough quality ball. Hopefully we’re going to be a lot more accurate next weekend.”

The breakdown was another cause for concern on the night, and with Munster’s physicality in this sector a matter of record, Cheika knows that the levels will have to be upped considerably if his wide men have any chance of being unleashed.

“There were a couple of very good clean-outs but we need to be more consistent, more accurate (in that area). The quality of the opposition in that part of the game next weekend is unbelievable.”

The Leinster boss was very sympathetic towards the unfortunate Tomás O’Leary, whose fractured ankle has brought an incredible season to a heartbreaking conclusion.

He does not feel that Munster will be weakened in any way, however, with Peter Stringer slotting in.

“It’s absolutely terrible for the player. But in Peter Stringer they have a quality player who, in his own right, could have gone on the Lions tour. They’ll lose nothing.”

Cheika will have his own selection headaches, with Rob Kearney’s recovery from mumps bound to be monitored closely.

Jonathan Sexton exerted huge influence when introduced soon after the restart while Sean O’Brien notched up two tries and also made his presence felt at the breakdown area after replacing Shane Jennings.

Shane Horgan took advantage of his opportunity to shine. His 58th minute try brought the sides level.

An enterprising quick tap on by Bernard Jackman after the Warriors had been penalised for crossing set the move under way and Sexton pounced on the loose ball and timed his pass to Horgan expertly.

Tries from Kelly Brown and Lome Fa’atau had given the visitors a 13-8 advantage at half time, with Leinster’s only ray of light coming in the form of Rocky Elsom’s five-pointer.

The Australian flanker barrelled over after a good move off the lineout involving Devin Toner and Malcolm O’Kelly.

Contepomi missed the conversion. The out-half hadn’t the happiest of days with the boot and was one from four after missing an early second half penalty before slotting his final four conversions.

Horgan’s try calmed the nerves and O’Brien galloped over for his first soon after, O’Driscoll delicately off-loading having shown tremendous power to carry on Girvan Dempsey’s good work.

Sexton earned a deserved try in the 70th minute.

Scorers – Leinster: F Contepomi 4 cons, 1 pen; S O’Brien 2 tries; Elsom, Horgan, Sexton 1 try each

Glasgow: K Brown, L Fa’atau 1 try each; R Jackson 1 pen

LEINSTER: G Dempsey; I Nacewa, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, L Fitzgerald; F Contepomi, C Whitaker; C Healy, B Jackman, S Wright; D Toner, M O’Kelly, R Elsom, S Jennings (Capt), J Heaslip. Replacements: L Cullen for O’Kelly (35); C Keane for Whitaker (33-40); S Horgan for Nacewa (46); J Sexton for D’Arcy (49); R McCormack for Healy (59); S O’Brien for Jennings (59); C Keane for Whitaker (73); J Fogarty for Jackman (73)

GLASGOW: B Stortoni; L Fa’atau, M Evans, G Morrison, T Evans; R Jackson, M McMillan; K Tckachuk, D Hall, M Low; D Turner, A Kellock; C Forrester, J Barclay, K Brown.

Replacements: F Thompson for Hall (10); J Va’a for Tckachuk (63); R Gray for Turner (70)

Referee: J Jones (Wales).