Feek seeks return to top form ahead of Ulster visit

LEINSTER scrum coach Greg Feek has called on his forwards to match the level of intensity that helped defeat Toulouse a fortnight ago in tomorrow night’s Magners League semi-final against Ulster at the RDS (7.05pm).

While all around them praise Leinster’s high standards of play that rose to a new peak in the Heineken Cup semi-final win over the defending champions, both players and coaches alike have continued to stress the areas to be improved if Joe Schmidt’s side are to complete a European and Magners League double this season.

With the Heineken Cup decider against Northampton in Cardiff following a week on from the Ulster clash, with a possible Magners League grand final a week after that, former All Black prop Feek is no exception.

The New Zealander detected a falling off from the Leinster scrum in last Friday’s 38-3 bonus-point victory over Glasgow in the final Magners League regular season game that helped secure second place in the table and the home semi-final.

“I suppose after the (Toulouse) game I thought, ‘jeez they didn’t have the calls there.’

“It’s good to be able to match them,” Feek said. “But last week against Glasgow we let ourselves down. I was a bit disappointed after the weekend. Good teams need to be at a level every week.

“Against Ulster this week, they’re a difficult pack and we can’t afford to have any more up and down periods for the next two weeks anyway and this week, particularly.

“We’re demanding from the boys and the boys themselves are demanding to get our stuff right; the little things right and the attitude right.”

Despite Ulster having failed to win in Dublin since August 1999, and Leinster having won both home and away in the league this season — 30-13 at Ravenhill on December 27 and 34-26 at the RDS four weeks ago — Feek stressed Brian McLaughlin’s outfit should not be underestimated.

“They have given us the hurry-up in both games although the scoreline might not have reflected that,” Feek said.

“We need to be on our game, this is the knock-out phase now, whereas before it was Magners League round-robin and there were Heineken Cup games going on around that time as well.”

“The (pack) will be missing BJ (Botha) but they have got good loose forwards and (Johann) Muller’s there as well. “He strengthens their set-piece and they have got a good half-back obviously in (Ruan) Pienaar as well.”

Leinster’s pack is none too shabby either with Feek credited for bringing the province up a level since his arrival at the start of the season.

“You can’t build a house if you don’t have the right architecture to get it up there. It’s a combination, everyone’s got to have the right attitude and front up. The key thing is probably the buy-in, from everybody.

“That’s not just at senior level but the academy and the club as a whole. It’s about how the boys have taken ownership of that.

“They have wanted to grow. I haven’t come in and reinvented the wheel.

“It hasn’t been ‘Criss Angel Mindfreak’ or anything like that,” Feek said referring to the television illusionist. “It has just been getting the basics right and stuff like that.”

Schmidt will name his side today with Feek reporting a fully-fit squad while captain Leo Cullen, Sean O’Brien, Brian O’Driscoll, Eoin Reddan and Heinke van der Merwe have all come back into consideration after being rested for the Glasgow game last Friday.

Whether Schmidt will continue to rotate his squad this weekend with the Heineken Cup final in mind remains open to question, although Feek insisted selection for the Ulster game would not be with the European showpiece in mind.

“This is a knock-out game and we want to win it,” he said. “Ulster are a team you have to respect.”