MAGNERS LEAGUE LEINSTER V OSPREYS: GERRY THORNLEYtalks to the experienced Shaun Berne who, while not out-and-out 10, still brings out the best in those outside him
SHAUN BERNE has suddenly been thrust centre stage. With Jonathan Sexton sidelined for at least the next fortnight and quite possibly the Heineken Cup semi-final in Toulouse as well, the 31-year-old Australian will begin his attempt to fill the void tomorrow night against the Ospreys at the RDS.
He’s been here before, orchestrating the maximum 10-point haul over the Scarlets in back-to-back games last December. But that was, well, the Scarlets; a world away from Toulouse on a raucous May Day against a stellar squad now with the whiff of trophies in their nostrils and the sun on their backs.
With Felipe Contepomi having been lured to Toulon by the kind of four-year contract that Leinster simply could not match, coach Michael Cheika had to bring in a versatile player who could also understudy Sexton. Cue the one-time Australian under-21 and A centre-cum-outhalf. Berne has looked a very shrewd signing, also making 10 starts in the Magners League and a further four appearances in total off the bench.
It helps he’s clearly a typically even-tempered Australian, with bags of experience, having also played for the New South Wales Waratahs in between his two- and three-year spells with Bath. He could have been confined to something of a bit-part player for the run-in but you believe him when he says he was never inclined to switch off.
“As a team, we’re where we want to be, with two trophies on the line. But injuries are part of the game. I can’t play the game like Jonny Sexton, he’s a good player, he plays the way he plays.
“I can try to fit into the Leinster team and play like Shaun Berne, try to bring my strengths to the team. I think we’re all hopeful Jonny Sexton can come back before the end of the season but it’s all up in the air at the moment.
“A few other guys have knocks, we have injuries there but any team at this stage of the season will have injuries.”
It also helps he’s a typically skilful Aussie, who brings out the best in those outside him with his good distribution and by running hard and flat to the gain line. However, though he has proved a nifty exponent of drop goals, Berne is not a specialist outhalf and doesn’t have the range of Sexton’s tactical kicking, nor the same kind of innate feeling for the role as an out-and-out 10.
“Jonny is a very confident young lad, he kicks the ball a long way and he can do that well. He’s got good talk on the field and he’s become a real leader in this team for such a young guy. Being a bit older, I’d like to think I can bring that experience to the table and control the team as much as possible. It’s not just my job, it’s a 15-man game.
“There’s not too much weight on my shoulders. I’ve been around long enough to know that you don’t win a game on your own. It’s just a matter of fitting in with the team and not upsetting the rhythm too much.”
Indeed, the presence of Gordon D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll outside him will be significant and he will have the next couple of weeks to reacquaint himself with the number-10 role. He fitted in smoothly last December, when Leinster scored 11 tries in those two games against the Scarlets.
The one caveat in the second game was his goal-kicking, on what was, admittedly, a capricious afternoon at the RDS.
All the kickers, including Berne, have been working with Richie Murphy this season but even in Sexton’s absence of late, it’s been Fergus McFadden who’s taken the kicks. No offence then, but . . .? “It’s too late, you’ve already offended me,” he says, smiling. “I’m not afraid to step up and kick goals, I’ve done it for other teams I’ve played for. I did it at the start of the year. As you said, it probably wasn’t as high a standard as I’d like but going forward I’m happy to do that role if I’m required to.”
He played in Toulouse with Bath last season, losing to a last-ditch David Skrela penalty, and recalls Yannick Jauzion being “a little bigger than me” but in keeping with Leinster’s understandable mantra all week he’d rather talk about their top-of-the-table collision with the Ospreys.
“Like Toulouse, across the paddock there aren’t many weaknesses there, if any.”
And it’s being thrust into games like these which vindicate his decision to join Leinster. “You’re always unsure when you leave one club and Bath have been successful. We had a good run last year, we made the (Heineken Cup) quarter-finals and (Premiership) semis. We didn’t win any trophies but Bath had a good run there for a couple of years and I left that unsure what I was coming to.
“Obviously coming to the Heineken Cup champions, you feel that there’s a bit of pressure and expectation from the fans, and at this stage of the season we’ve lived up to that, hopefully.
“But it all counts for nothing if we don’t go on and try to win something this year. So I’m enjoying life because everyone wants to sit where we’re sitting at this stage in the season.”
