Blues’ bonus keeps hope alive

Leinster 33 Lianeli Scarlets 14

It had been over a month since Leinster lost to Clermont Auvergne for the second time in six days but, in all the time between, no one had once mentioned the possibility of a detour into the Amlin.

For Irish sides, it has always been Heineken or nothing.

As he reflected on this five-try haul and its implications, the Leinster coach voiced the possibility that maybe Leinster will soon find themselves plotting a course for the RDS on May 17 as opposed to the Aviva the following day.

Schmidt will undoubtedly have felt slightly more optimistic yesterday evening after watching Munster claim four rather than five points in Edinburgh and Ospreys hold Leicester to a draw in Wales.

As for the overall picture, the champions could — like Munster — conceivably qualify on 19 points but Leinster will nonetheless be hoping that Racing Metro can do some damage in Limerick and Toulon likewise in Montpellier.

As it is, of all the sides still in the hunt for the two best runners-up slots, Leinster remain worst off thanks to the lack of tries they scored the far side of Christmas and it left them playing Barbarians rugby on Saturday evening.

Four tries and five points are usually sufficient ambitions to harbour in any Heineken Cup game but it was clear that Leinster’s were even greater when Jonathan Sexton booted a kickable penalty to the corner after just seven minutes.

With just three tries to their credit in four games, they dispensed with the standard building blocks of platforms and three-pointers in the hope that they could rack up half-a-dozen or more tries against a Scarlets side with nothing to play for.

They should have managed it, too.

Tries from Cian Healy, Shane Jennings and Luke Fitzgerald arrived within 33 minutes. The crucial fourth came courtesy of Rob Kearney just after the break but another 40 minutes passed before Ian Madigan struck for a fifth.

“There already are [regrets],” said Schmidt afterwards. “There were two more tries we should have got. There was one more that I felt there was good space and the ball was knocked down [illegally].

“There’s a little bit of frustration but the reality is we’ve got what we’ve got, we are where we are. You’ve just got to be pragmatic and say this is what we can control, this is what we can plan to do, and then try to execute it as best we can.”

The first half will offer encouragement this week. Leinster were impressive at times in that period, even with Brian O’Driscoll being “managed” on the bench, Richardt Strauss injured and Sean O’Brien a late absentee through illness.

The back row, in particular, was immense. Rhys Ruddock negated the effects of O’Brien’s late turn, Jennings ploughed into rucks and defensive lines and Jamie Heaslip found work aplenty in all sectors.

The speed and dynamism the home team showed spoke volumes for the stakes at hand and their determination to give themselves the best possible chance of advancement when they take on the Chiefs in Sandy Park next Saturday.

The second half may have tempered that feelgood factor somewhat but Leinster still finished the evening with 64% of possession, 70% territory and well over double the amount of carries and metres made.

Similar statistics will be harder to come by next weekend but Leinster have racked up 64 points and nine tries in their last two fixtures while the Chiefs have drawn one and lost three from their last four appointments and cannot finish second. Hope clearly remains that they can at least hold up their own end of the bargain.

“It’s going to be tough and we need to dig in and have the attitude we had [on Saturday],” said Schmidt.

“[Exeter] are not going to lie down, they’re a tough team and this is their first season in Europe. They have a lot of pride to play for.

“They gave us a hard time here [in round one] and they had an opportunity to win the game. They’ll back themselves to beat us. We have to go there and be ready for a physical battle.”

No doubt the weekend will take a mental toll to match but come 6pm next Saturday, Leinster will know that no amount of permutations will probably matter unless they claim a win and, you would have to suspect, four tries to boot.