RUGBY: OPINION
Leinster primed to take the sting out of Wasps
By Daire Walsh
LEINSTER will face a defining moment in their season at the Ricoh Arena this coming Saturday, when they face London Wasps in a winner-takes-all European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 2 encounter.
The 50-8 demolition of Castres in the RDS last Saturday evening seemed to put the Blues on course for qualification to the knock-out stages of the competition, but a surprise 23-3 success for Wasps over Aviva Premiership rivals Harlequins has significantly altered the outlook of the group.
A victory for Conor O’Shea’s ‘Quins would have effectively ended Wasps’ European aspirations, but first-half tries from Christian Wade and Joe Simpson set Dai Young’s charges on their way to a much-deserved triumph at the Twickenham Stoop.
They now find themselves just two points behind Leinster – who have usurped Harlequins as the pool’s pace-setters – and know that a fourth win of the campaign in their new home against the three-time Heineken Cup winners will secure their passage to the final-eight.
Leinster will have to be at their very best in Coventry if they are to extend their participation in the Champions Cup beyond the month of January, but they can take plenty of encouragement from the weekend’s display against their Top 14 counterparts.
The motivation of Castres can certainly be queried, but Leinster nevertheless made sure that the outcome of the tie was never in doubt.
Despite recently losing South African native Zane Kirchner to injury, there is a formidable look to the Leinster defence at the moment, with the Kearney brothers, Rob and Dave (former students of Clane’s Clongowes Wood College), being joined in the back-three by Fergus McFadden of Suncroft – who was making his first European start of 2014/15.
Indeed, Dave Kearney took less than three minutes to open the scoring in front of a packed crowd in Ballsbridge, and there was several flashes of brilliance from his older sibling throughout the course of the contest. The impressive form of centre pairing Luke Fitzgerald and Ian Madigan is keeping the experienced Gordon D’Arcy out of the starting line-up at the moment, which also enables Jimmy Gopperth (who ironically will be lining out for Wasps next season) to maintain his half-back partnership with Eoin Reddan.
Following a well-worked pushover score by Marty Moore, Reddan broke through for Leinster’s third try, and courtesy of a fourth touchdown from Reddan’s fellow Limerick man, the increasingly-impressive Sean Cronin, Leinster held an insurmountable 31-3 lead during the interval.
Leinster continued to press upon the resumption, when replacements Tadhg Furlong, Darragh Fanning and Luke McGrath all crossed over after their respective introductions.
The morale of the squad will certainly have been boosted ahead of this weekend’s gigantic showdown, but given the momentum that Wasps now have, Leinster will be aware that there will be a different dimension to this sixth-round game.
With his recent injury troubles behind him, Naas’ Jamie Heaslip is set to captain Leinster at the Ricoh Arena, and he will also be keeping a keen eye on his old alma mater, Newbridge College, as they begin their Leinster Schools Senior Cup campaign next Tuesday (January 27) against Kilkenny College in County Carlow RFC.
Dave Brew’s squad will certainly be familiar with their Noreside opponents, especially in light of their low-scoring Leinster Senior League quarter-final showdown towards the end of 2014. Despite playing on their home patch, Newbridge were made to work hard for a 6-0 success, and they should expect a similar resistance this time around but after reaching the semi-final of the competition last year, a similar run in 2015 is well within their reach.