Boss fears champions could pay the penalty for low try-count

Isaac Boss hopes Leinster’s low try count in a troubled Heineken Cup campaign doesn’t come back to haunt them.

The defending champions fought for their lives, scored five tries and picked up a bonus-point victory over Llanelli Scarlets at the RDS on Saturday but Boss isn’t convinced it will be enough.

Leinster travel to Exeter’s Sandy Park this weekend knowing a bonus point win is the minimum required and the holders might also need a bucket load of scores to enhance their eight-try haul from five games.

“It might come down to tries,” he said.

“We know where we stand but everyone in the squad knows what it means. If we are at two we try to get to three and then try to get to four. Once we hit the four we have to keep going. There is no let off for us. We need everything we can get at this stage.”

Boss is well aware next week’s result will define Leinster’s European future and dismissed talk of an easy passage.

“Great place Exeter. Great support. It’s going to be tough. We have to dig in and have the attitude we had tonight. They’re not going to lie down. They have a lot of pride and something to play for, although they can’t qualify.

“They came here and they had the opportunity to have won the match so they will surely back themselves over there. We have to be well prepared for a huge physical battle.”

Leinster’s head coach Joe Schmidt will be seeking physicality and warned his side against taking an all-out attacking strategy into the game as the Chiefs will be smarting from a chastening loss to Clermont Auvergne.

Schmidt knows it will take a clever performance from his side to secure the win, never mind the bonus point, and for all his delight on Saturday’s he seeks an improvement.

“Yeah, the ending wasn’t too bad,” he said when describing Saturday’s win, “but it was the bit in the middle [that worried].”

The good thing, figures Schmidt, was that Saturday’s physical demands should help Leinster prepare for more of the same at Sandy Park.

“It was a very physical encounter, I think there were times down one side of the field that the ball was being played and players were playing against each other, and on the other side of the field there were guys on their haunches and knees trying to get up from the last phase of play. I think both teams are a bit battered and bruised after that and there will be a bit of recovery for the next couple of days before we look at things and do some calculations.

“We will be a little bit disappointed and feel vulnerable but we will focus on what we can control and make the best of it.”