Schmidt happy to bide time on O’Brien

JOE SCHMIDT has expressed his confidence in Sean O’Brien, whose form this season has been steady rather than spectacular.

The Tullow native was named European Player of the Year for his performances in the last campaign but the Leinster coach feels the back row — as well as rampaging prop Richardt Strauss — are being targeted by opposing teams as a result.

“Potentially, there is a lot of energy there but it hasn’t quite become kinetic energy yet,” said the Kiwi. “We would certainly like to see him with more blockbusting carries and hopefully he will get more time and space on the ball to get involved in that fashion on Sunday.”

None of that should be construed as criticism of O’Brien who, it was pointed out, made 21 ball carries during the routine PRO12 defeat of Cardiff last week but momentum and tempo — both individual and collective — may be hard to engineer on The Rec’s notoriously heavy surface.

Rarely has a week leading up to a big European game been sprinkled with so much talk about the pitch and Schmidt admitted yesterday that his selection had been influenced by it, with Fergus McFadden winning the 12 jersey over the lighter Eoin O’Malley one example. Other notable selections include Isaac Boss’s nomination ahead of Eoin Reddan at scrum-half (as is the norm for European road trips), Damian Browne starting at lock instead of Devin Toner and the sight of Cian Healy and Shane Jennings on the bench again.

Opposing the champions is a Bath side with a single win in five. It is also one hindered by a glut of injuries with captain Lewis Moody the latest to be ruled out although key signings Stephen Donald and Francois Louw have returned to the 15. They have been inconsistent but Bath are big and physical. Even their wings, Jack Cuthbert and Matt Banahan, stand 6’5” and 6’7” tall and Schmidt fully expects both to be unchained from the touchlines and unleashed through the middle.

It won’t be pretty but if Leinster can establish a steadier initial platform than they managed in Montpellier, they have the players, experience and the systems to defuse the crowd before calling on a bench that boasts five internationals to finish the job.