D’Arcy aims to progress one millimetre at a time

LAST time out it was the English league leaders. This Saturday it will be their French counterparts standing in the way.

If Leinster go on to win a second Heineken Cup next month they will have done it the hard way. Three weeks have elapsed since that Anglo-Irish heavyweight clash but time hasn’t dulled the memories of what was a bruising, bone-crunching evening of fearsome intensity on Lansdowne Road.

The first quarter, in particular, was a blur of huge hits and though Leinster were deserving winners in the end, they soaked up a flood of Leicester pressure before finally leaking a try mere minutes before the finish.

The collateral damage was surprisingly limited given the rate of attrition and Leinster will be thankful for their clean bill of health this weekend (Rob Kearney aside) for an assignment that may even trump their joust with the Tigers.

“The semi-final is going to be even harder,” warned Gordon D’Arcy. “We were full of praise for Leicester before we played them. They’re a very good team, a very strong team. But Toulouse are going to be a step up on these guys.

“Toulouse are probably more of a complete team. They have more impact off the bench. If the Leicester game was of an international standard, this will be even more so, like a World Cup knock-out match or something, more physically demanding.”

Leinster could hardly be better prepared. For a start, their lack of casualties is in stark contrast to 12 months ago when they lost at this stage in Toulouse. Add in home advantage and a hugely-improved scrum and their hand is unquestionably stronger.

Less tangible, but equally important, is the sense of momentum and hunger that they bring to the tie as evidenced last week by the assertion that D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll had begged coach Joe Schmidt to play them in Italy against Aironi.

In the end, only O’Driscoll got his way and D’Arcy was left at home, while up-and-comers like Eoin O’Malley and Fergus McFadden were given a run.

But the layoff has clearly sharpened his already voracious appetite.

“I couldn’t be looking forward to it any more. The performance is the thing we’re worried about, the result will look after itself, that age-old thing in sport. You perform and the result takes care of itself.

“We need to worry about the nuts and bolts because you give Toulouse any little scraps they can go down the length of the field and score. They’ve an incredible back three with (Clement) Poitrenaud lurking in around the centres. A lot of teams switch off for milliseconds, turning the back thinking the referee might blow his whistle but he doesn’t and suddenly you’ve a pretty long walk back to the posts. There’s a lot to take in.”

That there is. Video analysis is an increasingly central cog to any week’s preparations in modern-day sport but such is Toulouse’s armoury that Joe Schmidt would have to spend weeks on end watching DVDs and providing a comprehensive dossier for his players.

Though they are by no means the biggest spenders in the Top 14, Toulouse do pack a significant financial punch and their history and allure have always made it that bit easier to attract talent to the banks of the Garonne river.

“Caucau (Ripeni Caucaunibuca) was playing at the weekend (against Bourgoin). He hasn’t played for four or five games. He’d walk into any team in Europe yet he’s one of their rotational guys. It just shows the strength of depth in their squad. Maybe they don’t have regular starters but I’d be willing to bet that the guys stepping in aren’t also-rans. They’re the team that everybody wants to beat, year in year out. They’ve won the most trophies. We can’t look for any excuses.”

In any case, second-guessing what sort of side Guy Noves chooses isn’t high on D’Arcy’s agenda. The Toulouse team is beyond his control. For him, the focus for the next few days will be Leinster.

“As for us, you just look at what we have available on the pitch and we have everyone available to play. That’s always a plus, but it’s about ourselves and doing what Joe and Jono (Gibbes) tell us with Leo (Cullen) calling the shots.

“We just need to worry about ourselves. I know from myself, if I’m lucky to play, if I win my individual battle, then I can contribute to the team. Everyone needs to have that mindset and perform that little bit better than the guy you’re playing against.”