Cheika waiting on Sexton fitness
The Ireland out-half has been sidelined since cracking his jaw during the quarter-final defeat of Clermont Auvergne at the RDS just under three weeks ago and has missed three Magners League games in the interim.
Sexton trained with the province yesterday but did not take part in any contact work. That may change in tomorrow’s session after which player and coach will sit down and come to a decision which will have huge ramifications for the champions.
“We’ll talk,” said Cheika. “We’ve got a pretty good rapport, he and I. We’ll discuss it together and see.
“It’s going to be a qualified decision based on the information we’ve got. I’ll ask him a few pertinent questions.
“He won’t be able to lie about trying to play, because I know what he’s like, but if he didn’t think there was a chance, we wouldn’t be going on with it. We’re a bit in the dark but I suppose the opposition are a bit in the dark as well.”
Leinster’s fitness concerns are not limited to Sexton. In fact, Isa Nacewa is the only probable starter in the back-line not approaching this game on the back of recent injury problems. Girvan Dempsey (neck) and Fergus McFadden (calf) are the other two main concerns as the clock ticks down towards the weekend but the news on Rob Kearney continues to give growing cause for optimism.
Unusually, while the backs are clogging up the casualty ward, there are no such worries over the pack and that will be some comfort to Cheika who admitted medical opinion on his preferred ten is “conservative at best”.
Should Sexton be forced to sit out the semi-final it would fall to Shaun Berne to fill the gap, as he has done without much fuss in recent weeks, but Toulouse at Le Stadium will be a step up from the Magners League.
One particular issue, should Berne start, will be his place-kicking. Fergus McFadden was the preferred choice against the Ospreys before Berne was belatedly handed the responsibility in the Sportsground.
That aside, it has been four months since he performed the role for the senior team – in a St Stephen’s Day Magners League game against Ulster at the RDS – and it is a facet of the game which could decide the result on Saturday.
“I’d say we’re pretty comfortable with both situations,” said Cheika. “If (Sexton) plays, great. If he doesn’t, then we’ll have him for the rest of the year and there are still some pretty big games to come, hopefully.
“Put it this way,” he added, “we’re not desperate. I’ve got a lot of
confidence in Shaun.
“We analyse all the possible risks. There’s no point (Sexton) going on if he’s going to be coming off after a minute.”
The French are sweating over their own injury worries this week – to number eight Louis Picamoles (ankle), hooker William Servat (thigh) and Samoan prop Census Johnston (knee).
However, any problems Guy Novès’ squad may be facing must be offset against the sheer size of their squad, one which will keep the visitors guessing until the sides are named on Friday.
“It will be interesting to see the combinations that they select to give us a bit of an indication of how they think they might play the game, in particular at out-half and whether they decide to go with (Jean Baptiste) Elissalde or (David) Skrela.
“Their back-row combination and their back three combination as well. It wouldn’t surprise me for them to bring back (Maxime) Medard. He hasn’t played for quite a while from what I know but just the way they use their rotation I wouldn’t be surprised to see him come back in either.”
Toulouse warmed up for this fixture with a less-than-awesome 25-17 win at the Stade Ernest Wallon against Castres last weekend that guarantees them home advantage for the first knock-out round in the Top 14.
Cheika witnessed it first-hand but travelled back to Dublin knowing that he had not seen Novès’ full hand and that this weekend’s opponents had done no more than necessary before squaring their sights on Europe.
Novès has already been quoted as saying that the Heineken Cup is his club’s top priority this season. It is five years since they claimed the last of their three titles and Cheika has been happy to play off things like that in recent weeks.
“We said it at the very start, that they fancy their chances against us deep down and that they’re probably pretty happy that they’ve drawn us and they see that as the quickest road to get to Paris.
“We’re going to face the sternest test, probably of our whole time together. It’s going to be the biggest battle that we will have come across and we’re going to have to dig in and fight hard because we’re a couple of men down.”
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