Leinster focus now turns to Pro12
Daire Walsh
It was a case of mission accomplished for Leinster in the European Rugby Champions Cup quarter-final last Saturday, but with an away fixture against Newport Gwent Dragons coming up this weekend, they will immediately switch their focus back to the Guinness Pro12.
Skills and kicking coach Richie Murphy revealed that the camp were pleased to have gotten the better of Bath in the Aviva Stadium, but with a place in the top-four of the Pro12 still at stake, Sunday’s clash with the Dragons requires their full concentration.
“Looking back at the weekend, [we were] happy to get the win. That’s behind us now. A fair bit of the review stuff was done today. We’re looking forward to both Dragons and even having a quick look at Toulon,” Murphy stated.
“Our focus for this week is purely on Dragons and trying to get ourselves into a position where we can fight for that top-four. Obviously we are up against it a little bit there, so it is a case of all hands to the pump and just try and do as much as we can do to force our way into that top-four.”
Prior to Saturday’s triumph for a full-strength Leinster, they recorded just one win from five games in the absence of their front-line Six Nations stars. However, Murphy feels that this patchy form was because of the relative inexperience they had in those games, as opposed to any doubts about the overall ability of their fringe players.
“We definitely haven’t performed in the league to the level that we need to. With players coming in and out, and obviously players over the last season or so dropping out of the squad, the leaders that were there beforehand when the international were away are changing now. People are trying to develop those areas, those roles.
“The young guys coming in have to play to get experience. You’ve got to review how they did on that day, and put them back out again in order to see can you get an improvement. We’re seeing improvements in our team. It’s a case that we’ve just got to keep driving forward.”
In the wake of their triumph over Bath, there has been a general acceptance that it was by no means a perfect performance by Leinster. Yet, with Toulon to come in the semi-final, Murphy feels that they can still have a big say in the destination of the Champions Cup.
“Looking at Toulon, they’re obviously a massive, massive team with stars throughout their line-up and we have to take that into consideration.
“We feel that there is stuff there that we can focus on and try to improve. When you look at stuff from the Bath game, you can see opportunities. You can’t say when you’re going to get it right, but we’re not a million miles away and once you keep creating the opportunities we should be able to take them at some stage.”