European Cup: Coach Michael Cheika yesterday named the same enlarged 25-man squad for Saturday's rematch with Agen in the Stade Armandie, but despite a minor clamour for change the indications are that in the absence of Felipe Contepomi and Will Green he will retain faith in the starting line-up that recorded a bonus-point win last Saturday. Gerry Thornleyreports.
Leinster's Achilles heels in the 26-10 win were undoubtedly their scrum and their place-kicking, two areas you'd think would need to be operating much more effectively if they are to win this critical game and retain the driving seat in Pool Two ahead of their main rivals.
Inevitably, these areas dominated yesterday's press conference. But Cheika vowed they were working hard at both, and although he expects Agen might change the configuration of their front row, he expressed confidence Leinster would learn from having packed down against them.
In particular he felt Leinster weren't "aggressive enough in the engagement" the last day.
Aside from Cheika himself, forwards coach Mike Brewer and scrum specialist Roly Meates, Leinster were also using the national kicking coach, Mark Tainton.
Even so, it does seem extraordinary that Leinster, with all the province's elite schools and academy structures and conveyor belts of backs, have had to rely on a Kiwi and an Argentinian to kick the ball between the sticks over the last few years.
As an aside, Cheika said Contepomi was striving to disprove the prognosis of their own medical staff by making it back for the Thomond Park rendezvous with Munster on December 27th or The Last Stand on New Year's Eve with Ulster, or failing that by early January.
The laid-back, straight-talking Cheika came as close as he ever has to bridling at the suggestion on RTÉ that the new signing Stanley Wright couldn't hold up a wall.
"I personally am not into making jokes about people; I don't think that's respectful to anybody honestly," he said. "But everybody's allowed an opinion and we got pushed back a couple of times big-time. They're allowed to say that but I wouldn't really see that as an issue that comes into my head. My issue is about getting the ball and not worrying about how people assess a particular player."
But he did add "it would be unfair to pinpoint him alone", given, as he said, a couple of scrums went backward after Wright was replaced.
Indeed, the flak does seem a bit selective bearing in mind Leinster's problems here predate Wright's arrival scarcely a week ago - after he had gone half a dozen weeks without a game - and that, for example, the All Blacks' scrum coach Mike Cron reckons 60 per cent of scrummaging emanates from the back five.
Hooker Brian Blaney admitted that with Kees Meeuws and Ace Tiatia in the front row and the sheer strength of their pack, Agen are probably one of the strongest scrummaging units in Europe.
"But our technique let us down poorly last week," he added. "We've done the video analysis and it shows that our technique let us down, so we're going to get our technique right for next week and hopefully we can put it up to them, and push them off a few balls."
Among his many strengths, it's clear Blaney is nothing if not an optimist.
Cheika too. Acknowledging there was considerable doubt out there about their scrum, the coach said: "We have a lot of belief about those parts of our game internally, about our ability, even when the chips are down, to get out of those situations, and we are going to be under the pump down there regardless - if not in the scrums, then in other areas - because this is a very decisive match in the pool."
As for the goal-kicking, Cheika was more circumspect: "However we decide to go into the match, whether we take a goal-kicker into the match or . . . persist with Girvan and Gordon as a back-up or . . . use Gordon as the first string, we'll just see how we feel at the end of the week."
But when pressed as to how tempted he might be to pick a specialist place-kicker such as Andy Dunne, Cheika responded: "The same temptation as last week. I think we plan to play our game a certain way and we've got to make sure we have detailed planning for every possible outcome."
This might depend on weather, though the forecast is good.
Reading between the lines, this would suggest Dunne might at best be promoted to the bench, which is where Reggie Corrigan is also likely to be kept again, as an experienced hand in reserve for the end-game.
"He's doing well when he's come on," said Cheika. "We've used him for different games over the whole season so it's a possibility but it's all about how we configure the game and we also want to see who they select. We've tried to do our homework on all their frontrowers; they've got quite a wide selection . . . and we've got to be confident that we can build a platform."
Cheika and his players are fully aware of the increased intensity they are likely to face. Blaney wondered aloud why Agen didn't bring the intensity to Lansdowne Road but, recalling how he was hit with an elbow to the face in the early exchanges of Leinster's "rematch" defeat in Bourgoin ("that was just a welcome to Bourgoin I think"), he expects more of the same on Saturday.
"Oh absolutely, yeah. I can't wait. It'll be good. It'll get us fired up anyway." Optimism and masochism. Playing French teams away in the European Cup, you probably need a bit of both.
Ticket sales for "The Last Stand" between Leinster and Ulster in Lansdowne Road on New Year's Eve have topped 30,000, meaning there is guaranteed to be a Magners League record attendance for the last game in the old stadium.
There are stand and terrace tickets available for purchase from www.leinsterrugby.ie and from Spar (Donnybrook), Leinster Rugby Store (Donnybrook) and Elverys of Dawson Street and Suffolk Street as well as Ticketmaster outlets.
LEINSTER (squad v Agen): Forwards:R McCormack, R Corrigan, B Blaney, H Vermaas, B Jackman, S Wright, T Hogan, M O'Kelly, O Finegan, C Jowitt, S Keogh, K Gleeson, J Heaslip. Backs:C Whitaker, G Easterby, A Dunne, C Warner, D Hickie, R Kearney, G D'Arcy, B O'Driscoll (capt), K Lewis, S Horgan, L Fitzgerald, G Dempsey.
