Leinster should worsen Castres’ travel sickness

Two days, four games, four French opponents.

If the gap between the Irish provinces and the Top 14 behemoths is as big as feared then there is ample opportunity for that to be confirmed by Monday after the quartet of provinces has faced up to Top 14 opponents.

Lump the latest annual operating budgets of Castres, Racing 92, Toulouse and Bordeaux-Begles together and you wouldn’t be left with a whole lot of chump change from a €100m investment.

That’s a daunting metric but one that doesn’t factor in some other notable stats. One of considerable interest to Leinster fans as they open the batting for the Irish entrants at home this afternoon is their opponents’ continental form book.

French champions only three years ago, the club’s European record is pathetic. It’s ten years since they managed to avoid defeat in this first round.

Eight times they’ve opened their account away from home and they’ve won none of them.

Since their one and only knockout appearance back in 2002, Castres’ record away from Stade Pierre Antoine stands at two wins, a single draw and 24 losses. It was hard, then, to listen to Leo Cullen talk them up as he did so enthusiastically yesterday.

Like, why should this trip be any different?

“Probably just some of the noises coming out of their camp, I guess,” said the Leinster head coach at the RDS.

“A lot of the stuff they’re saying, they feel they want to perform in Europe and they want to give it a good crack this year. We need to be on guard.

“I saw their game (away to) Clermont a couple of weeks ago and they were in that game for a long period. They were winning in the first half and they’re dangerous.

"They go hard at the breakdown, they’ve got pace and guys who have good evasive skills that are able to punish you off turnover ball.”

That may all be true but, of all the French teams competing this weekend, Leinster seem to have landed the pick of them. Of the four, Castres sit lowest in the domestic league table and the bookies rate them as the pool’s rank outsiders.

It’s not that there isn’t something to admire about them.

It’s less than 18 months since they avoided relegation to D2 by dint of a better head-to-head record with Bayonne but they scrambled all the way up to sixth last June after Christophe Urios arrived as Director of Rugby from Oyonnax.

They have actually been pretty competitive on the road this last two weeks, as it happens, but still came up short in Clermont and Montpellier and it would be no surprise to see them tailing off as the afternoon wears on today.

So, the loss to injury of Jonathan Sexton aside, this could hardly be set up better for a Leinster side that has shown encouraging form and one that is eager to atone for their disastrous European campaign last term.

“There’s a huge amount of excitement this year,” said Rob Kearney. “The atmosphere around the club is really strong and that’s something that can never be underestimated. It’s a happy place to be but we’re winning games.

“We’re playing well but guys recognise that there is still a huge amount more to give. We really do feel that if we do get to that place where our potential is that we’re well able to compete with the very best in Europe.”

If there is a glimmer of hope for Castres it probably came in the form of the Leinster teamsheet at noon yesterday. Impressive as Joey Carbery has been this season, he is not Jonathan Sexton.

Not yet anyway.

“There will be a bit of unpredictability, I guess,” Cullen admitted. “They won’t know Joey as well as they would have known Johnny. Joey has gone well, he’s run plenty in the team over the course of pre-season.

“He’s done a hell of a lot more then Johnny has done. He’s got a lot more reps over the course of the season. He’s gone well. It is what it is. We’re happy with the guys that we have.”

There’s no reason that mood should change today.