Irish players ‘keen’ for quick return

MANY of Leinster’s Irish Internationals intend to take out their World Cup frustrations on Edinburgh in the seventh round of the RaboDirect Pro 12 at the end of the month.

They’ll only return to the province a few days before that match on October 28, but some have already contacted Leinster coach Joe Schmidt from in New Zealand asking to feature.

“A number of them have said they want to play against Edinburgh, but I won’t say who,” revealed Schmidt after his team’s victory over Connacht on Saturday evening.

“There are some guys who are definitely keen, and we’ll just have to measure what sort of condition they come back in. They’re only back the week of the Edinburgh game which is on a Friday night so we will be a little bit tight for time. Isaac Boss is the sort of player who could come back reasonably fresh because he hasn’t had much game-time. At least they’ll all be coming back to a positive environment.”

Saturday’s victory has Leinster sitting pretty in third, but a win seemed an unlikely prospect at half-time as tries from Ray Ofisa and Brian Tuohy helped the Westerners into a 20-8 interval lead. At the break Schmidt accused his players of being bullied on their own patch, and he got the desired response as they produced a hugely improved second-half showing. A Luke Fitzgerald try and some fine kicking from Isa Nacewa and Ian Madigan saw them comfortably home.

Scorers for Leinster: Tries: D Toner, L Fitzgerald. Pens: I Nacewa (4), I Madigan (1). Cons: I Nacewa (1). Drop goal: I Madigan (1).

Scorers for Connacht: Tries: R Ofisa, B Tuohy. Pens: N O’Connor (2). Cons: N O’Connor (2).

LEINSTER: I Nacewa; F Carr, E O’Malley, L Fitzgerald, D Kearney; I Madigan, C Willis; H Van Der Merwe, R Strauss, J Hagan; S Sykes, D Toner; K McLaughlin, R Ruddock, L Auva’a.

Replacements: N White for J Hagan (ht), D Ryan for K McLaughlin (51), D Hudson for F Carr (58).

CONNACHT: M Jarvis; M McCrea, G Duffy, H Fa’afili, B Tuohy; N O’Connor, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, D Rogers; M Swift, M McCarthy; J Muldoon, J O’Connor, R Ofisa.

Replacements: TJ Anderson for R Ofisa (46), D McSharry for M Jarvis (50), P O’Donohoe for F Murphy (52), E Reynecke for A Flavin, R Ah You for B Wilkinson (54)

Referee: P Fitzgibbon (IRFU)