LEINSTER COACH JOE SCHMIDT cut a disappointed figure when he met the press in the run up to his side’s RaboDirect PRO12 clash with Ulster at Ravenhill on Friday evening.
The Irish side are coming off the back of two damaging defeats to French side Clermont Auvergne in the Heineken Cup pool stages, defeats that leave them needing ten points from their final two matches in the European competition to qualify for the knockout rounds.
Before those clashes with the Llanelli Scarlets and Exeter, Leinster have three PRO12 fixtures and the opportunity to make up some ground on table-toppers Ulster.
“The reality of sport is that you can’t win all the time. As coaches, you try to break that certainty, but you just can’t win all the time,” said Schmidt.
“It’s been a tough weekend, there wasn’t a lot of sleep on Saturday or all (Sunday night). I can say if it’s not to be, I can’t complain how things have gone over the last three years, but you just have to forge ahead.”
When asked if he might drop those who are particularly downhearted after the double defeat to the French side, Schmidt responded: “Not really, to be honest.
“They’re professionals, they’re hungry to play and one of the best things about rugby is that, unless it’s the PRO12 Final, the next week you get to lace up the boots and get out there and try to put that memory behind you.
“The best way to do that is to get on and play another game. You want to bury your freshest memory as soon as possible, when it’s a miserable one, which it was.
“I’ve had a good luck at the video. I know we didn’t play well enough, but it’s not the worst game we’ve played, I just think they’re a very very good team and it’s always hard to say that we could have played a fair bit better and still not got over the line with what we had on the field at the time.
“That’s probably a fair indication of the quality of Clermont.”
Schmidt was eager to point out that the best way of advancing in the Heineken Cup was success in the PRO12.
“We need a good run in the Rabo. We’re third in the Rabo and we’re 12 points behind Ulster. The only way we’ve got any chance of catching them at all is to win the eight-pointers that these games become – four points they don’t get, and four points we do get, if it is a win.
“They know we can’t catch them if they win this weekend. For that reason, we really need to do well in the Rabo in the near future, with the next three games we need to consolidate our position in the top four (or better).”
