THE USUAL SPORTSMAN’S mantra will apply, but it’s hard to avoid looking beyond Leinster’s meeting with Cardiff in the RDS this Saturday.
For the Pro12 leaders, it’s an opportunity to show they can pick up where they left off and create some breathing space at the summit. But lurking just beyond is a critical point in the season.
On 1 April Wasps come to Dublin for the Champions Cup quarter-final, then it’s away to second-place Ospreys and either side of a possible European semi-final they must face the Pro12′s last two champions – Connacht and Glasgow.
Good job the cavalry is on its way back.
Understandably, most of Ireland’s internationals won’t be dipped back into provincial action this week. So Leo Cullen and Rassie Erasmus are both dealing with the imperfect situation of putting some of their best players back into the side in a European knock-out fixture after a two-month absence.
“He’s got to focus on getting his rest now,” Leinster scrum coach John Fogarty says of Tadhg Furlong.
“Those guys need to decompress. Mentally, it’s been a tough few weeks. ups and downs emotionally as well.”
With many of the Test contingent still in transition back to their province, it becomes all the more important for Leinster to get some names off the injured list and back on the field to help avoid wholesale – though inevitable – change for the Aviva Stadium match.
Should Isa Nacewa, Sean Cronin and Josh van der Flier prove their fitness this week then it would offer some valuable continuity to a side which will have props, a line-out-calling lock, back row leaders, star out-half and centres all to be parachuted in.
“It’s really important. The cohesion that’s built up by playing week-in, week-out is a real thing. The teams that are less affected by injuries and people being away, they tend to well.”
And yet Leinster, with over 15 players in Ireland track-suits over the last month, notched up 20 points from 20 on offer and took control of the league’s summit. Key to riding out the disruption, Fogarty says, is the training ground approach of Stuart Lancaster.
“We wanted to make sure – they (Cronin and Nacewa) were back last week, so it gives them a nice lead-in. And the way we train with Stuart, there’s a lot of unstructured rugby being played. It’s game-based, so you can build that cohesion up quite quickly.”
Despite the match being jammed between European and Six Nations weekends, the fixture list has been kind to Leinster. Playing in the RDS this Saturday offers much less disruption, a greater chance to build up a rhythm again, than the alternative of packing bags and travelling across the channel.
We get to prep the way we want to when the travel days aren’t there. It’s a bit of an easier week when you’ve a home game. Everyone’s excited about an RDS game, we’ve scored a lot of tries there this season, so we want to perform well for our supporters.”
“(Cardiff) are fighting hard for the top six, they’ve a lot to play for. We’re happy with how the weeks have gone. but we know how tough the run-in is for us.
“For us to make sure we keep picking up points to make sure we finish top is hugely important.
“There’s a huge hunger within the squad for us to be involved on big days at the end of the season. we want to make sure we get there and we want to make sure we do a good job.”
The medal hunt heats up now.
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