Recent tough slogs will stand to us

Jimmy Gopperth is confident Leinster’s slugathons of recent weeks will prove to be the ideal preparation for the province’s crucial Heineken Cup trip to France where they will face Top 14 champions Castres.

The French side slogged their way to a torturous win against Bordeaux at their Stade Pierre Antoine fortress on Sunday and Leinster have had to endure similar wars of attrition lately against Edinburgh, Ulster and Connacht.

“The pitch looked a little heavy from that [Bordeaux] game,” said Gopperth ahead of the round five meeting on Sunday. “It’s a formidable place to go and I don’t think they have lost in either competition down there.

“They are big men and they like to play physical but also the very French offload game and counter-attack game. We have to be right up there and bring our physicality and match them on that front to go on and get the win.”

Leinster go into the fixture on the back of back-to-back interpro wins but with only two tries bagged from their last four games, yet Gopperth listed the heavy conditions and exceptional defences by way of explanation.

The former Newcastle Falcon replaced Madigan in the second-half at the Sportsground and was pivotal in turning the scoreboard around to Leinster’s favour by landing a penalty and setting Gordon D’Arcy free for a try.

Such competition for places can only be healthy, he believes. “We’d like to think so. Mads and I will push each other every day. It can only be beneficial for the team for it to be like that. It keeps us on our toes as well because as a player it’s always good to have competition.

“There are still things I want to work on in my game but I’m happy to be in this environment. It makes any player play to the best of their ability. That’s all we need.”

If there is a template for this latest outing then it is probably the grinding win away to Ospreys in round one, which Gopperth directed, rather than the flamboyant defeat of Northampton in round three. “We have to play in the right areas of the park,” said the Kiwi.

“Our kick-chase has to be on the money as we were a little down on the kick-chase last week and that gave Connacht a few opportunities to run back at us.

“We can’t let these guys, their back three, to run back at us as they will put holes in us.

“We know we have to be tight on our kicking game for us to get good field position and take our opportunities.”