No-nonsense ‘Slatts’ slates Whitaker and Kearney

TWO key pillars of Michael Cheika’s Heineken Cup-chasing Leinster squad have come in for stinging criticism from one of their most famous past players.

Fergus Slattery adorned the 1970s and 80s with his no-nonsense, uncompromising style of flank forward play, and last night the 1982 Triple Crown-winner didn’t hold back in his appraisal of both scrum-half, Chris Whitaker, and 2009 Lion, Rob Kearney, describing the latter as “a bit of a mirage”.

Kearney is sidelined with the mumps and will miss Saturday’s Heineken Cup semi-final against Munster, but the full-back didn’t escape censure from Slattery, while the Dublin auctioneer remains “gobsmacked” Whitaker still retains the No 9 shirt.

“I actually don’t think Kearney is a loss,” admitted Slattery. “I think he’s a little bit of mirage – I don’t think he’s got pace, I think he wanders all over the place. He can come off left foot, right foot, he can break lines but I don’t think he’s got real pace.

“He’s got a big boot, he can kick the ball long and deep but doesn’t do an awful about it after he’s kicked it.”

He added: “I think against Munster if it is Girvan Dempsey at full-back, he’s a much safer pair of hands. I’m not unhappy about Girvan Dempsey being full-back.”

As for Whitaker, ‘Slatts’ didn’t withhold his gunfire for a player who has struggled for form this season, and who is viewed as the main reason Leinster’s backline has misfired for long periods this season.

“I’m astonished and absolutely gobsmacked that Whitaker is playing scrum-half for anybody, even if that’s for the eskimos or the Uzbeckis. I know I’m hard on the guy, but I just don’t understand it. I think he’s a big weakness.”

Slattery, however, sees the Leinster back row as one of their “bright areas”, and expands on his view that only way to beat Munster is, literally, run the legs off their pack.

“I don’t think (Alan) Quinlan and (David) Wallace and whoever else they put in their back row…if the game is dragged right across the park constantly, I think it won’t help that Munster pack. I don’t want to pick on anyone, but there’s certainly two or three of them won’t come out the better for it.

“I’m not saying all the Leinster guys will either, by the way. But I think Leinster are in a tight corner.

“It took 75 years to win a Grand Slam, it took another 60-odd years to win a second one; Leinster could be waiting a hell of a long time. The potential this side has had over the last few years, they nibbled and have shown their capability particularly behind the scrum, but if they don’t succeed on May 2, it could be a long time before we see them back in the same position.”

Should Leinster lose on Saturday, Slattery believes Cheika’s days could be numbered. “He’s under serious pressure. I think Leinster over the period of time should have done better than they did. They’ve one Magners League title and I don’t think that represents the ability and capability of the side.”

Slattery also believes Leinster have a 40-60 chance of overturning the champions, but referred to another key area where the game could be won and lost pinpointing weaknesses in the two fly-halves – Felipe Contepomi and Ronan O’Gara.

“O’Gara and Contepomi both have weaknesses. O’Gara is a fragile defender; Contepomi is a little bit fragile in the head at times, and I think he does need to be protected, particularly in the first ten or 15 minutes.

“If I was wearing my evil hat, I would be targeting O’Gara, and I would be targeting him off scrums. I wouldn’t just start having a sort of a carte-blanche — ‘we’re going to target O’Gara’ — I would go for him off the scrums. Whoever is better at doing it, is going to score a point and is going to make that 60-40 gap wider or narrower.

“Contepomi is obviously a very important player. I think O’Gara’s strongest ability is his consistency at kicking. You need three things to win a tournament: a good captain, immense desire, a good goal-kicker.

“And you don’t necessarily need to have the best team but you need to have a kicker – it’s one of the key things. Contepomi, if you like, negatises O’Gara.”

He believes Munster currently look unbeatable, but says their attitude must be right if they’re to prevail.

“The problem Munster have is managing themselves. They’ve got to manage their expectations. When you’re very good and you’re very strong, you can get caught on the hop. That’s the thing Munster really have got to watch.

“They’ve got to go out and play two finals to win this thing. There’s no short-cut on it. They have go out and kill Leinster, and if they don’t have that attitude and that approach to it, they could get caught.

“It’s 40-60 — they’re two very good sides. Munster, on paper and form, are the better side. And there’s nothing wrong with that; the best shouldn’t always win. The side with the greatest desire, good leadership and goal kicker – you need all those things to succeed, but don’t need to be the best team.

“Munster have, in the last six weeks, looked like European champions.”

* Sky Sports will show both Heineken Cup semi-finals exclusively live and in HD, including Munster v Leinster from 5.15pm on Saturday on Sky Sports 1/HD1.