RUGBY NEWS:AS HAS been their lot lately, the exact composition of an ever-changing Leinster backline is liable to remain the subject of some conjecture until 24 or 48 hours before Friday's return Heineken Cup meeting away to Castres. Although Brian O'Driscoll suffered no damage to his hamstring when forced off in Saturday's 33-3 win at the RDS, no less than the gradually improving Felipe Contepomi and Isa Nacewa, the Ireland captain's fitness is still unclear.
"He's so-so, and it's going to be 50-50 as to whether he'll be able to play," admitted Leinster coach Michael Cheika yesterday.
O'Driscoll and Shane Jennings, initially included in the original 24-man squad at the start of last week, will again be named in the expanded squad today, as will Ronnie McCormack, Contepomi and Nacewa, with Cheika quietly confident one or both of the latter two will be available.
But to compound Leinster's uncertainty about the composition of their backline, Girvan Dempsey suffered "a bang on his calf" according to Cheika, while Shane Horgan has contracted the bug sweeping through the squad in the last couple of weeks that laid CJ van der Linde low for the Magners League game against the Dragons last Saturday week.
"Shane actually played through it but was very ill after the game. So we could have everybody or nobody," admitted Cheika.
Cheika also accepted that Leinster could have played much better and will be seeking improvement this week. "We didn't flow, despite dominating in terms of possession. In the line-outs we won 17 or 18 of our 20 throws and of their ten throws they only had one clean ball. So we should have scored more. Sometimes that happens but it's something we're going to try and put right next Friday.
"But there's no need to panic. We didn't get the five points but we did in our first two matches and to have 14 out of 15 points at this stage is a good return. Now we need to kick on and get 18."
A consolation for Munster, aside from their losing bonus point, is the players on duty in Clermont last Sunday all came through unscathed and will be fit again this week, while coach Tony McGahan is reasonably optimistic Jerry Flannery has "a very good chance" of being back in the equation.
Reflecting on Sunday's game, and a few re-runs of the video which didn't get any easier the more he watched it, McGahan accepted that Munster had, unusually for them, let it slip a little.
"We kicked very poorly in the first 20 minutes, as did they, but they kicked very well at the start of the second half and we made too many unforced errors."
Looking at the overall picture and the tight three-way contest for qualification from Pool One, the Munster coach said: "Maybe nine points wouldn't have too bad a haul at the midway point but with Sale winning with a bonus point and then the way we played in the first-half, you'd have to say it was probably three points lost by us (in Clermont). It looks as if you're into the scenario now that we are going to have to win our last three matches. That makes it tough."
Meanwhile, buoyed by their handsome 26-16 win over the Scarlets (their third competitive win in succession) Ulster have announced a new deal with six players until the end of the 2010-11 season. As further evidence of their improved longer term health, in addition to the experienced Bryn Cunningham (30 years old), Ulster have re-signed a clutch of their young stars: David Pollock (21); Darren Cave (21); Niall O'Connor (21); Mark McCrea (21) and Thomas Anderson (21), as well as Willie Faloon (22) until 2010.
"It is fantastic to have these exceptional young players, that the province has developed, stay with Ulster," said coach Matt Williams.
"They have all been very successful in their careers so far and are the future of the team. All the staff and other players are really excited that we have signed all six future stars and we are all delighted that Bryn has again signed on the dotted line. He is a player of great experience and I hope he will be a great mentor to some of the younger players."
