Gibbes confident there’s life after Elsom for Leinster
The flanker found the lure of the Wallaby jersey impossible to resist during the off-season and his absence is sure to be keenly felt given his contribution to Leinster’s Heineken Cup-winning campaign in 2009.
Brian O’Driscoll went so far as to say that the Australian was the man most responsible for that success but Gibbes believes the Irish province have already taken concrete steps to soften the blow of his departure.
“That was last year,” said Gibbes. “(Elsom) was pretty awesome. He made a significant contribution last year and it was great, but life has to go on. This year’s team, some new personnel have evolved.
“I don’t know if you saw the (Scarlets) game, but Kevin McLaughlin’s performance was a real positive. His workrate, his directness in the carry, his willingness to keep fighting for every inch; and he worked hard on defence. I thought it was a real plus. We’ve also recruited Nathan Hines, which is a new skills set for our lock department. With the personnel we’ve got we can still move forward and develop.”
Elsom’s loss aside, questions will inevitably be asked about Leinster’s hunger to return to the peak of last season and Gibbes believes he has already detected encouraging signs in that regard.
“Yeah, absolutely. They’re working hard in the gym but I’ve noticed guys having more attention to detail in the analysis, even after watching training sessions on video,” he said. “They’re asking a lot more questions. The real disciplines of the game, they’re really striving for those now and asking questions around that because they really want to be involved in the 22 every week.”
Hines did not feature in that 18-16 defeat to the Scarlets last Saturday but he has been called in to the Leinster squad for this weekend’s home tie against the Dragons at the RDS.
Fellow Lion Gordon D’Arcy is also on call for the first time this season, as is Bernard Jackman, although most of the side’s front-line internationals will be off duty for another few weeks while prop CJ van der Linde is recovering well after recent toe surgery.
Leinster led last week’s Magners League opener 16-7 approaching the final quarter at Parc Y Scarlets before conspiring to let the victory slip but Gibbes believes there was much to commend the evening’s work nonetheless.
“From a team point of view there were a lot of positives. About 85 per cent of that game was positive in terms of possession gained, how we used it and our attitude to using that possession was mostly positive.
“We were rewarded with great territory gains. The 15 per cent disappointment was that we were a bit rusty. It was the first game of the year and we weren’t clinical enough. We had five, maybe six opportunities and we just didn’t close them out.
Annoying though that defeat was, there is greater room for such slip-ups in this year’s Magners League thanks to the introduction of the play-off system which will see the top four battle it out for the trophy in semi-finals and a final.
That should also allow team management greater room to manoeuvre in terms of selection and that could work to the advantage of the next generation of players seeking their big break with the senior teams.
“You do need to bring in the younger players so I’m not sure that will significantly change now there is a play-off mentality.
“We try to win everything in front of us and we do that with the resources we’ve got. We’ll have significant disruption during the Six Nations, then we’ll have to blood a lot more younger players.”
Connacht coach Michael Bradley has made three changes to his squad for Friday evening's Magners League clash against Edinburgh in Murrayfield.
Flanker Mike McCarthy, winger Aidan Wynne and prop Ronan Loughney have been drafted in with injury ruling out Robbie Morris and Niva Ta'auso.
It had been feared that McCarthy might be ruled out for several weeks but a calf injury was not as serious as initially feared.
Ta'auso is out with a fracture in his hand and will undergo further tests this week to establish the extent of it, while Morris has a back injury which forced him to retire in the opening game against the Ospreys.
Leinster squad (v Dragons): Backs: S Berne, G D'Arcy, S Horgan , C Keane, D Kearney, Simon Keogh, B Macken, F McFadden, N Morris, I Nacewa, P O'Donohoe, J Sexton.
Forwards: L Cullen, J Fogarty, J Harris-Wright, C Healy, N Hines, B Jackman, S Jennings , Stephen Keogh, R McCormack, K McLaughlin, S O'Brien, M O'Kelly, M Ross, D Toner, S Wright.
Connacht (squad): A Browne, F Carr, S Cronin, G Duffy, A Flavin, J Hagan, I Keatley, R Loughney, K Matthews, M McCarthy, M McComish, J Muldoon, F Murphy, T Nathan, M Nikora, J O'Connor, R Ofisa, C O'Loughlin, B Tuohy, B Upton, B Wilkinson, A Wynne.
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