Contepomi: Sexton needs training, not matches

Felipe Contepomi insists that Jonathan Sexton is more than capable of parachuting back into Leinster’s XV for Sunday week’s Heineken Champions Cup semi-final against Toulouse in Dublin.

Sexton hasn’t featured for Leinster since the defeat to Munster in Limerick at the end of December. His last outing of any stripe amounted to 73 disappointingly poor minutes in Wales in mid-March when Ireland’s Six Nations ended with a 25-7 loss.

Leinster have reported that their 2018 World Player of the Year is increasing his training load this week as he combats a quad injury, but it is highly unlikely that he would be risked this Saturday for their Guinness PRO14 game against Glasgow in Dublin.

Leinster have long since secured a home play-off berth in the league, so exposing their playmaker to a combative and edgy opponent that has a three-point lead on Munster at the top of Conference A would make little sense.

That would leave Sexton starting cold against the Top 14 giants — if he’s fit enough.

“For me, it is more about fitness and being in training and getting the cohesion there, rather than in games,” said Contepomi.

He’s 33, played so many games in his life. It is not like he has to feel the game. That’s his case. Other cases might also need games. Everyone is individual, is different.

Ross Byrne has proven an able deputy for Sexton in recent seasons, but the reigning European champions struggled to overcome Ulster in the quarter-final at the end of March without Sexton when several other Test stars plugged back into the system.

A number of Irish internationals were subsequently granted leave last week, with Leo Cullen making 13 changes for the visit of Benetton Treviso to the RDS, so there has been limited scope for the brain trust to work with anything approaching a full roster.

When asked if they need to field a chunk of their front-liners against the Warriors this weekend, Leinster’s backs coach Contepomi is sticking to the party line in claiming that cohesion can be achieved in training. We will see what that means for Devin Toner and Robbie Henshaw.

Neither has played rugby since the first round of the Six Nations, but both have returned to full training and are available for selection. That’s a significant double boost and Toner’s imminent availability is particularly timely given injury issues facing Mick Kearney and Ross Molony.

Molony has been pegged for duty twice in recent weeks, only to be pulled over lingering concerns over a back injury, while Kearney was withdrawn with a shoulder injury against Benetton and is unavailable for this week’s duties, at least.

Personnel issues aside, Leinster will hope that they can iron out the kinks that marred their narrow victory over Ulster, not least an attack that was consistently shut down by the Belfast side’s blitz defence.

Engineering space has never been more difficult than it is now, with Leinster suffering against Ulster in much the same way Ireland did recently against England and Wales in the Six Nations.

Putting boot to ball and turning packed defences has been put forward as one suggested route forward for both Ireland and Leinster, but Contepomi seemed to suggest that the answer for the men under his command remained in their own hands.

“To attack them more (is the solution). Against Ulster, for example, in fairness, they played a really good game,” he said.

“They kind of squeezed us and we needed more tempo and trying to play quicker, take the edges. It is something we are working on.

“We know a lot of teams will put on a lot of pressure or slow down the breakdown because that is the way to slow teams that have the intent to play.

“We are trying to get on those points and get the best of the players that are playing in that situation, trying to get the team playing in good shape and not depend on players, but on how the team functions,” the former Argentina star added.