Nacewa rises to the occasion

SEBASTIAN Chabal, the French human wrecking ball left his mark on the ribs of Leinster’s Jamie Heaslip within 30 seconds of kick-off in Saturday’s Heineken Cup clash at the RDS, but then found diminutive Leinster winger Isa Nacewa more than a match for him.

Heaslip had barely dusted himself off when he saw Chabal sitting arse about face after being dumped to the turf by one of the smallest men on the pitch. In the overall context of the game one tackle might not mean much, but Leinster coach Joe Schmidt believed it was significant.

“Chabal is a fantastic player going forward, he’s incredibly explosive. I wouldn’t describe Isa’s challenge as a tackle as such; I’d say it was a body throw to stop Chabal’s momentum in his first carry of the game. It was meritorious to say the least and, later, because we identified Chabal as a key carrier and got numbers onto him, he didn’t get the opportunity to play the way he likes and probably dropped out of the game as a result.”