EUROPEAN CUP: Newcastle and Leinster decamp to Headingley in Yorkshire at the behest of European Rugby Cup Ltd (ERC) to try to resolve their twice-postponed Heineken European Cup tie.
The verbal sparring of Sunday when both sides claimed the moral high ground has given way to a more clipped appraisal of the new arrangements.
Leinster team manager Ken Ging said: "I have no comment to make other than we will continue to abide by ERC regulations in going to Headingley. We have done everything right and will continue to do everything right."
Leinster coach Matt Williams responded unequivocally to Newcastle's insinuations that the Irish province had pressurised the referee into postponing the match on Sunday, saying: "We will abide by the rules and we will respond to the outrageous allegations by Newcastle after the fixture."
Newcastle's views on the matter were equally brief. Club official Richard Woollam said: "We're happy enough. We just want to play the game this week. The only slightly upsetting thing is that some season ticket holders will not be able to see the match."
ERC were the ultimate arbiters in this dispute under the regulations of the tournament. Once Newcastle failed to provide a pitch in the requisite condition after postponing the initial fixture, the matter reverts to ERC and they then decide on where and when the tie will be played. They insisted on the game going ahead as quickly as possible and so Headingley was chosen, a venue with undersoil heating.
Newcastle spent yesterday afternoon training on the infamous, at this juncture, Kingston Park and it's hardly a surprise that Woollam pointed out that the pitch was in excellent condition. Leinster, having returned to Dublin on Sunday night, will fly out this morning (11.0) for tonight's game.
Better news for the Irish province is that their final pool match, originally scheduled for Saturday against Toulouse at Stade Les Septs Deniers, has been put back 24 hours to Sunday at 2.30 local time (1.30 p.m. Irish time). Leinster travel from Leeds on a special charter straight to Toulouse tomorrow morning.
To say that both teams desperately want to win this match is understating the depth of feeling that has swamped the original tie. Neither side has made team changes which means Liam Toland will be on the Leinster bench in place of Robert Casey - the extra few days haven't helped the Blackrock second row to recover sufficiently from a recent minor operation on his knee.
Leinster require at least one victory to guarantee a home quarter-final and would dearly love to achieve that tonight. Newcastle, ostensibly, had little to play for as they cannot qualify from Pool Six but the events of recent days will heighten their desire to prevail.
Newcastle have the further distraction of the ongoing row with Gloucester over the controversial incidents that led to the dismissal of Newcastle flanker Epi Taoine and Gloucester hooker Olivier Azam in a club match the previous weekend.
Newcastle have responded to the ban imposed on director of rugby Rob Andrew from travelling to Kingsholm in the future unless he apologises to Azam by formally complaining to the English RFU and yesterday declaring that the club would not travel to Kingsholm unless Andrew was welcome.
Concentrating on purely playing matters, Leinster coach Williams will reiterate his directive to his team not to give Newcastle outhalf Johnny Wilkinson place-kicking opportunities: discipline will be a key factor. The English club might have played a more fluent game if the tie had taken place on the original date but now with the baggage attached might be more conservative in trying to guarantee a win.
It will be interesting to note how many fans travel to this game. Leeds is a two-hour train journey from Newcastle while many of the Leinster supporters who forked out additional money to rearrange flights when the game was originally postponed on the Saturday may not make the journey once again.
Leinster chase a 15th successive victory and the Celtic League champions are certainly good enough to achieve that goal.
