THE SAINTS ARE down and almost certainly out, but Matt O’Connor expects them to keep marching on anyway.
With two losses from three Heineken Cup Pool 1 fixtures so far this season, it appears unlikely that the Premiership side will feature in the knock-out stages of the European competition. If it were a French club in Northampton’s position, then Leinster could have been forgiven for expecting a second-string team to turn up tomorrow.
It’s not though, and Jim Mallinder’s men arrive in Dublin with the intention of fighting for their Heineken Cup lives. Leinster head coach O’Connor rejected the notion that the visitors will have turned their focus to matters domestic.
“I doubt it; they’re a really proud club. They have a very long tradition of being very good. Irrespective of the result [last weekend], they will come with a very steeled mentality to try and get something out of it, if not just a better team performance.
They spoke themselves about being embarrassed so they’re going to put everything into a really massive team performance. The margins are really small. We were very good in the first 20 minutes last week, but when you sit down and look at it; there’s bits that can go either way.”
All those bits went Leinster’s way last Saturday and it would be foolish to take O’Connor’s words as evidence that he felt his side’s win was lucky. As with any sporting victory, there was a dollop of fortune involved but the eastern province were accurate and focused, meaning their victory was utterly deserved.
The excellent form of Ireland internationals such as Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Mike McCarthy and a whole host of others powered Leinster to victory in Franklin’s Gardens and it appears that the November Tests have given these players a new lease of life. O’Connor agrees:
“To have 15,16, 17 of your guys playing rugby at that intensity is huge. That’s the pinnacle of the game. For those guys to be involved in that on a regular basis, we would certainly like that to be a spin-off and I think we saw the benefits of that on Saturday.”
Another man to deliver a stand out performance last weekend was Rob Kearney, who is in the middle of a rich vein of form. The fullback looks more fired up than ever before in his career and his excellence has been warmly welcomed by O’Connor.
“He probably was coming off the back of a frustrating Lions tour and a largely frustrating season. He missed a lot of rugby last year and he didn’t start the season on time with the rest of the guys. He’s a really big driver of our environment and since the November series and coming back into our environment, he’s been brilliant.”
Despite the positives, the Leinster coach insists that his side are focused on ensuring they don’t repeat Ulster’s feats last season – Mark Anscombe’s men won well in England against the Saints before losing at Ravenhill in the return leg. O’Connor reckons the northern province suffered defeat because they were “a little bit complacent.”
Northampton have that “blueprint” to work off now and O’Connor says his side need to focus on themselves.
There was a lot of things in our game that can improve. The result was pleasing, but the guys are under no illusions of what the Saints will bring this week. They’re really excited about playing in front of a massive crowd at the Aviva and it’s going to be a great occasion.
“They’re very, very conscious of not letting themselves down. We’ve got ourselves off to a great start, but we’ve got to build on it.”
