O’Connor: High stakes will lift Leinster

Although Richardt Strauss and Luke Fitzgerald are out, Leinster don’t have serious injury worries for tomorrow’s RaboDirect Pro12 semi-final clash with Ulster at the RDS.

Skipper Leo Cullen is ready to go, alongside Eoin Reddan, Jamie Heaslip and Brian O’Driscoll, according to head coach Matt O’Connor, and his focus now is on the opposition and the occasion, with a trophy to play for.

“The guys have worked hard all year to get to this point. The stakes are high and they know you don’t get another chance if you get it wrong.

“With that comes an element of pressure; the fact we’re at home and there’s the emotional attachment around Leo (Cullen) and Brian (O’Driscoll) although that is a motivator as opposed to a pressurised situation for us.

“The guys are really excited about going out there on Saturday night in front of their home fans.”

Yet, O’Connor believes Leinster must get it perfectly right. They nearly didn’t against Edinburgh last week and he expects Ulster will come into the game with all guns blazing.

Excitement, he admitted, has to be tempered with reality.

“It’s one of those things that, this time of the season, brings out of the players. It’s about being clinical and doing what we need to do, it’s not about getting over excited or over emotional about it. It’s about doing the things we’ve practised all year really well, to make sure that we control the circumstances. That didn’t happen last week, but there were a range of circumstances in and around that, and I’m sure there’s some great lessons for us in relation to (the fact) if you are a little bit off.

“If you are five per cent off against anyone in the league you are going to struggle. The guys have spoken about it this week, they know that we need to look after our own backyard and make sure that the things we are trying to achieve on Saturday happen and we control.”

In a short space of time, O’Connor has come to respect Ulster and recognises the challenge they will bring tomorrow evening.

“They’ve been pretty formidable. “They’re dangerous (even) with 14 blokes, yeah. The reality of having 14 blokes is that the courage and the commitment that they showed on that night (in Ravenhill recently) was exceptional. It makes it really, really hard. All the things you practise in the week to try and deliver on; it changes the dynamic.”

In relation to that hard-fought 22-20 win O’Connor remarked: “We probably didn’t adjust quickly enough and didn’t take our chances when they were there; as a result they stayed in the game and got their (losing bonus) point. The rest is history. We’ll be expecting a very different scenario on Saturday.”

“We didn’t take our chances at Ravenhill and there’s probably one or two that stick out. The guys are working really hard to fix that and once the stakes get a little bit higher, you’d like to think that we’ll get a little bit better.”