Leinster bench press paying off
Michael Cheika’s side hitched up at Le Stadium that May Day bank holiday with injury worries over a number of regulars. Most damaging was Jonathan Sexton, who watched the game from the sidelines with a broken jaw.
In his place stood Aussie Shaun Berne, an honest pro but a squad man who had played ten years intermittently during his long stint in Europe with the province and Bath and someone whose abilities in the role fell far short of the young Irishman’s.
Leinster were chasing their second title, something which would confirm their status as one of the continent’s aristocrats and a feat they would manage 12 months later, but their issues at ten were evidence of the distance they still had to travel.
It wasn’t enough to bemoan the financial advantages boasted by Toulouse and, to an even greater extent, the likes of Racing Metro. If Leinster wanted to progress, to grow, they needed to better their strength in depth.
That they have done.
“Any coach would say it’s a 23-man squad,” said Joe Schmidt.
“I don’t think you can afford to go ‘right there’s my 15 men to win it’. That’s one of the things in the final last year, we had more of a 23-man squad as opposed to the 15-man squad. Sometimes you have no choice in that and I’d sympathise with Jim Mallinder in terms of what he had to deal with.
“You see [Glasgow coach] Sean Lineen talking about his loose-head props this week and how other guys are battling for positions. He’s got to a similar stage in deciding who he should start and who he should select on the bench based on the changes they can bring.
“That’s the nature of rugby now.”
The burgeoning strength available to Leinster this season is emphasised further by a cursory comparison between their bench that day in Toulouse and the replacements Schmidt will turn to against Glasgow Warriors tomorrow.
Back then, Michael Cheika brought in CJ van der Linde, who never lived up to his billing; Malcolm O’Kelly, who was at the tail end of his career; Stephen Keogh, who was a fringe player at best and Mike Ross, who was overweight and out of favour at the time.
Now? How about four Irish internationals and Richardt Strauss who is just a residency permit away from joining them. Clearly a significant improvement and yet the presence of Ian Madigan alongside them suggests the process has a way to go to match Toulouse.
Two years on and it is still at ten where Leinster look most vulnerable in the depth charts. Mat Berquist’s signing from Super Rugby was meant to change that but his medium-term absence through injury leaves Sexton as the squad’s one and only Mr Irreplaceable.
Should the Ireland out-half be placed on the casualty list prior to Berquist’s eventual recuperation, Schmidt would have no option but to turn to 22-year old Madigan who has yet to start a Heineken Cup fixture.
Madigan has talent and may yet emulate Sexton, who was not yet 24 when he broke into the Leinster ranks, but it wouldn’t exactly be ideal if they were depending on such an inexperienced youngster to steer the ship through the choppiest of waters.
Out-halves aside, Leinster’s other area of concern is in the second row where quantity is in greater supply than absolute top-class quality but Schmidt can boast an embarrassment of riches in other sectors.
His back row and back line are proof of that. How reassuring it must have been yesterday to know that he could turn to a prospect like Eoin O’Malley when his two first-choice 13s, Brian O’Driscoll and Fergus McFadden, were crocked.
“We want that,” said scrum coach Greg Feek. “Guys to be challenged. Look at the centres vying for that spot. The pressure is on the guy who’s performing and the other guy looking on.”
Just as it should be.
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