RUGBY: INTERVIEW: MIKE ROSS: John O'Sullivanon the prop's determination to make up for a penalty try when Leinster meet the Ospreys tomorrow

THE CONCESSION of a penalty try is an abhorrence to a prop so it’s hardly surprising to learn Mike Ross took it personally; the slight invaded his sleep patterns for a few days.

The particular moment occurred during Leinster’s 19-15 defeat to the Ospreys in a Magners League clash at the Liberty Stadium earlier this season. The two teams meet again in the same tournament tomorrow night, this time at the RDS.

There are mitigating circumstances as Leinster had two players in the sin bin at that particular moment when referee David Wilkinson chose to make his value judgment.

It offers little succour to Ross, as the Ireland and Leinster tighthead prop, a player renowned for his ability at scrum time, recalled the memory.

“I didn’t sleep well that night or for a couple of days afterwards. It’s something I take very personally, take a lot of pride in. Before that I don’t think I gave away a penalty try in eight years. I was fairly raging afterwards.”

Surely given the numerical discrepancy it was largely unavoidable? Ross points out that in those circumstances, the hit is vital to try and get the opposing scrum on the back foot.

He continued: “At that stage we had a backrow in the secondrow, which is not something you practice too much. To be fair they scrummaged very well that night; it just shows you the small margins between repelling it and not. It (the scrum) wheeled one way and than another and the referee lost patience at the end of it.”

Leinster fielded a young team on that night at the Liberty Stadium but the same can not be said of last year’s Magners League final clash at the RDS when the Irish province were pickpocketed in their own backyard. The victory should add a little extra spice tomorrow night.

Ross admitted: “We certainly want to beat them. It’s that time of the season when you have to keep yourselves in the top four, have to keep the pressure on and we have two Heineken Cup games coming up and we want to go into those on the back of some good form.”

As the Welsh side demonstrated against Munster in the Heineken Cup, they possess a scrum that can be a potent weapon. It’s an area Leinster though have worked on assiduously under the direction of New Zealander Greg Feek, with Ross a cornerstone in ensuring a pronounced improvement.

“Greg has brought a lot of common sense to our scrimmaging. It’s basic physics at the end of the day and the focus is on the pack as a whole. He has certainly improved the way we scrummage and I have been really happy with the way it is going.

“We’ve come up against them a few times and they have a very strong scrum. I watched their games against Munster and against Llanelli recently and they certainly have a very good pack. They have Adam Jones, Duncan Jones and Paul James in the frontrow and they are all internationals, so they obviously have a fairly good competency in that area.”

Ross conceded Leinster had undergone a change of emphasis at the scrum, by working more as a fully-manned unit.

“It’s the difference between eight versus eight or eight versus five. You definitely need the backrow to stay down and work hard until the scrum is over.

“I know it’s difficult in terms of their (backrow) defensive duties but speaking as a frontrow, it makes a huge difference if you have them staying down and giving that weight until the scrum finishes. A lot of teams will wait for the opposing backrow to stand up and they will come again; once they have you moving it is too late to come back from that.”

The 31-year-old is adopting a sensibly mature outlook in response to the clamour for his inclusion in the national team for the upcoming Six Nations. The fact he wasn’t given any game time during the November Tests enhanced his reputation in absentia, so to speak.

“All you can do is play as well as you can and if the recognition comes great, if not . . . We are going well in the Heineken Cup and I am enjoying my rugby. Yeah, I would love to be in the frame but all I can do is keep playing well and keep putting pressure on.

“Every player has areas he can improve on, I have identified mine and will keep working on those but if I am not playing well for Leinster, I won’t play for Ireland; it is as simple as that. There is a lot of competition in the squad. Stan (Wright) is back next month so I just have to keep playing well and hopefully that will lead to greater things.”

Tomorrow represents an ideal opportunity to offer another reminder.

“I didn’t sleep well that night or for a couple of days afterward. It’s something I take very personally, take a lot of pride in. Before that I don’t think I gave away a penalty try in eight years. I was fairly raging