Leinster in a good place for Champions Cup trip to France

The plan for Tadhg Furlong, who hasn't played since mid-October, is that he will be ready for the Six Nations. 

RG Snyman, Jack Conan and Joe McCarthy at Leinster training on Tuesday. Picture: ©INPHO/Andrew Conan

James Lowe definitely won’t be facing La Rochelle in France this week, Tadhg Furlong probably won’t, but there is good news for Leinster in the form of other returning stars as they brace for the Stade Marcel Deflandre.

Hugo Keenan, Ciarán Frawley, Jack Conan, Thomas Clarkson and Max Deegan have all been added to Leo Cullen’s arsenal this week. Jamie Osborne, Jordan Larmour and Tommy O’Brien came through the win over Munster with no issues and could play their own parts.

All told, it’s a scale that is leaning towards the positive end of things given Leinster will take on La Rochelle having had last week off and with the likes of RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett rested for that earlier win in Thomond Park.

“It’s a great time of year to have those problems, to get guys back,” said attack coach Tyler Bleyendaal. 

“There’s a selection headache for coaches but it’s a good one to have, so we’ll see where we end up.” As for Lowe, he appears to be in a race to make Ireland’s Six Nations opener at home to England at the start of February. He hasn’t played since 80 minutes against the Wallabies at the end of November and still isn’t back in collective training.

Furlong is at least back on the paddock. The official word is that he will be assessed later in the week but the veteran tighthead hasn’t played since Munster in mid-October. He is clearly being handled with kid gloves as he works through a hamstring issue.

The plan is that Furlong will be ready for Ireland duties and that would be especially welcome now given Ulster tighthead Tom O’Toole is to miss the England opener and the follow-up away to Scotland due to suspension.

All of which is incidental to Leinster right now.

This latest renewal of their rivalry with Ronan O’Gara’s side is crucial. Both sides have won their opening two fixtures but this will go a long way to determining seedings for the Champions Cup knockout stages.

Leinster have won the last two meetings having come desperately short in two finals prior to that but the visitors have won all eleven games this season while the hosts are experiencing another fitful campaign.

La Rochelle’s last game was a last-gasp home win against a desperately young Toulouse side and their Irish coach left nobody in any doubts as to the jump in standards required when the four-time champions pitch up on Sunday.

“They obviously weren't as accurate as they would have hoped but you can see the individuals they have and their ability to break the game open or to stop your own game, they still have that,” said Bleyendaal.

“We're expecting them to be very aggressive and physical and we're going to have to be on our game both in defence and attack. We're going to have to be on our game because they are well-coached and they have great individuals.

“It might not be gelling for them in the Top 14 but Europe, as we know, can be a different beast and bring more out of teams.” 

This might be a familiar pairing but these two teams are evolving all the time. Leinster, in particular, look to be a very different prospect to the one that won in La Rochelle 13 months ago and then repeated the dose in the knockout stages.

Jacques Nienaber has his feet firmly under the table and the result is a side that is leaning into its blitz defence ethos and a power game. The sense is that the attack has suffered for all that. Bleyendaal doesn’t agree but accepts that work needs to be done.

Attack versus defence is a binary view of it all and the Kiwi made the point that their preparations are not “siloed” in such a straightforward fashion. For the attack to function, he needs to understand how Nienaber’s defence functions, for example.

“Yeah, we’re working hard to integrate the kicking game, the attacking game and the defensive game. We’re putting a lot of energy into that and how it all combines together, purely from an attack point of view.

“We’re probably making too many simple errors at the wrong time, which is stopping our flow and our ability to build and probably look good.

“Big-picture wise, we’re still scoring points, we’re getting the opportunities, we’re very clinical at times and we’re getting points from that. I think we can just do a better job sooner or more effectively.”