Exiles eye miracle performance to rekindle fading cup hopes

THE Scarlets hoodoo has left London Irish needing to do a demolition job on defending champions Leinster at Twickenham on Saturday if they are to qualify for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals in April.

The Scarlets have now won all four tournament meetings between the sides and last weekend’s 31-22 Round 5 defeat at Parc y Scarlets was a hammer blow to their title hopes.

The Twickenham match had looked to be a potential winner-takes-all affair but now Bob Casey’s team have to take a maximum five points – and deny Leinster anything – to top the group and earn automatic qualification.

Now, England scrum-half Paul Hodgson admits his side face a “monumental task” if they are to reach the tournament knockout stages for only a second time.

“It’s a massive challenge for us,” said Hodgson. “Leinster are flying at the moment and are a formidable side.

“They will be coming for the win and we are in no doubt as to how tough it will be. It will be one of the toughest games this team has faced, a truly monumental task.”

The Exiles saw a 12-point advantage turn into a nine-point defeat as the Welsh region inflicted a second Pool 6 defeat on the Premiership club – both of which were unexpected.

“We’re definitely disappointed – it is probably one of the most gutting feelings we’ve had as a team for a long time,” added Hodgson.

“It was a game we should have been in control of but we let it slip away.

“A lot of what we did was what we set out to do as far as the game plan was concerned but there was an inability to hold on to the ball. We weren’t as efficient as we should have been at ruck time and we sometimes gave away penalties in the wrong positions – there’s probably quite a few things you could list.

“There were some home truths spoken in the changing room, so hopefully we can have a reaction, not just next week but for the rest of our season.”

Now they have to do to Leinster what the Scarlets have done to them – the season’s double.

London Irish won 12-9 in Dublin in Round 1 to stun the champions but from that high they have now hit a low in a tournament never short of shocks.

“Leinster probably played a little bit below par when we played them over there,” said Hodgson of a match that failed to produce a try and saw the boots of Peter Hewat and Ryan Lamb see off the goal-kicking efforts of Jonathan Sexton.

“We will just be looking to put in a performance that will give us a chance to win and then what will be will be.

“London Irish is still a special group of players. We’ve got some great personalities. So we won’t dwell on this result too long but we’ll definitely go through the game with a fine tooth comb to try and put things right – starting with Saturday.”