Leinster a prized scalp for Scarlets coach Easterby

There are four Irish coaches responsible for the fortunes of non-Irish teams in this season’s Heineken Cup and, by a quirk of fate, three of them will be plotting the downfall of Irish teams in round two this weekend.

Michael Bradley will take his shellshocked Edinburgh side to Thomond Park after their 45-0 demolition at home to Saracens while Conor O’Shea will hope his Harlequins side can avenge last year’s surprise loss at Connacht’s Sportsground.

Last but by no means least on that list is Simon Easterby, whose young Scarlets squad welcome Leinster to west Wales, which leaves Mark McCall the odd man out as his Saracens side will be in Paris to face Racing Metro 92.

Easterby is unique among all of them in that he never played any of his club rugby on these shores but Saturday’s fixture at Parc Y Scarlets still comes with the added entanglement of his brother Guy, who is team manager to the European champions.

The Scarlets coach made a solid start to life as a head coach, with the Welsh region lying second in the Pro12 table after six games.

“I think he will be reasonably pleased [so far],” said older brother Guy. “They lost a home game to the Ospreys, which he will have been pretty disappointed with, especially with having a huge crowd in for it. They lost in the last minute or so to Treviso as well.

“So they are four-and-two from their Pro12 and they have had a difficult European trip so I would say that he has been reasonably pleased. But the European Cup is massive and he will be looking for a big performance from his boys this week.”

A victory at home against the three-time champions would do more than just reignite the region’s European hopes, it would further inflate the air of expectation around the novice 37-year old coach.

Easterby’s appointment last July was wildly heralded. Seven years as a player with the club were followed by a two-year stint as defence coach before Nigel Davies’ departure.

Capped 65 times for Ireland and twice for the Lions, Easterby is one of those coaches the IRFU would do well to keep tabs on.

His wife, Sarra, is a daughter of Elgan Rees who played for Neath, Wales and the Lions and Guy was quick to point to that domestic influence when asked about the possibility of a role for his younger sibling within the Irish system.

“Like any coach you have got to keep your options open,” he added, “and it is very early to be talking about him as an international coach. It is a fickle role, coaching, and he is just focusing on getting as much right as he can and seeing how that develops without getting too far ahead of himself.”

With injury worries over Jonathan Davies, Scott Williams, Liam Williams and Aaron Shingler to contend with, the younger Easterby should have no difficulty concentrating on the here and now, especially with Leinster’s casualty ward beginning to clear.

Hopes are again high that Rob Kearney and Gordon D’Arcy will be available to play. Both were in the reckoning for the Exeter Chiefs fixture last Saturday before being withdrawn late in the week.

Leo Cullen and Cian Healy reported no ill-effects after their comebacks against the Premiership outfit while Fergus McFadden, Richardt Strauss and Heinke van der Merwe are all good to go despite needing head stitches.

Isaac Boss came through 30 minutes of the province’s British & Irish Cup win over Leeds Carnegie at the weekend while Dave Kearney and Rhys Ruddock have both returned to the training paddock.