Injury woes and Wasps keep Schmidt focused

As if Joe Schmidt doesn’t have enough on his plate.

Defeat by Ulster in Saturday’s PRO12 encounter at the RDS has left Schmidt’s side with a job to do if they are to secure a home play-off berth next month, although the focus this week is on a first Amlin Challenge Cup tie.

Enveloping all that is the continued run of injuries, with young centre Brendan Macken the latest casualty when breaking a hand during that four-point loss three days ago.

But forget all that, Joe. What about the speculation linking you to the Ireland job?

“I have enough troubles of my own,” he said with a laugh that confirmed this wasn’t his first time to face that particular question, “some of them self-inflicted, with the guys (injured) we have at the moment and my head is wrecked with that stuff. Whenever we lose I don’t get a lot of sleep but I know Declan will still be in the mix and until that is sorted I’m not a massive fan of conjecture.

“I’m here at Leinster next year and that keeps my hands full.”

Good news for Leinster, of course, and — Macken aside — so was the latest casualty update which offered the prospect of the Kiwi coach having a few more chess pieces with which to orchestrate a plan of attack against Wasps at Adams Park on Friday. First up is Gordon D’Arcy, who is expected back having missed the last outing due to illness, and options at centre could be further boosted by Fergus McFadden who would also be in contention for a potential shift on the wing. With Brian O’Driscoll (suspended) and Luke Fitzgerald (injured) both out, Leinster could do with as many hands as possible on deck, which makes news of Eoin O’Malley’s imminent return from long-term injury even more welcome. Definitive word on the 24-year old centre will more than likely come tomorrow and the same was said yesterday for Jonathan Sexton. The Ireland ten has yet to be ruled out but is said to be a more realistic shot for the Munster clash a week later.

Schmidt will thus hope and pray that Ian Madigan is, in his own words, “durable” enough to come through this next 80 minutes because Leinster have no-one of the requisite experience or positional skillset to deputise.

Not an ideal scenario then but, as the head coach alluded to, many a team would readily swap positions with a Leinster side still in the hunt for two trophies.

“In this competition (Amlin) it’s about trying to get back to a home semi-final. We think we’ve probably let that slip in the PRO12 so it would be nice for our supporters to have one at home. A European trophy is a European trophy. It’s maybe not the one we initially would have liked but it’s still one we’d still like to win.”

The trip to High Wycombe promises to be tricky but hardly the daunting task it once was — the former Heineken Cup champions lie seventh in the Premiership and have lost their last four league games.

Their defence is among the most porous in the division and yet only Harlequins have claimed more points scored, with wings Christian Wade and Tom Varndell doing the most damage with over half their tries.

It is just over five years since Schmidt tasted defeat at Adams Park as assistant coach with Clermont Auvergne, losing out by the minimum in a group which contained Munster.

“We played a thriller there. It was three tries apiece, so it might be a tight pitch but if you can get a bit of continuity and get the ball out wide and a bit of speed in your play you can score.”