LEINSTER COACH JOE Schmidt is upbeat on the prospect of Richardt Strauss and Isa Nacewa being available for Saturday’s make-or-break Heineken Cup meeting with Scarlets.
The holders face elimination from the competition this weekend but will be aiming to give themselves a slim chance of progressing to the knockout stages with a four-try bonus point at the RDS.
Brian O’Driscoll, Luke Fitzgerald and Rob Kearney all returned to action in the win over Edinburgh on Friday and Schmidt could also have South African hooker Strauss and New Zealand full-back Nacewa to choose from after both participated in preparations at their camp in Enfield yesterday.
“They (Strauss & Nacewa) both trained today,” Schmidt said. “There was a little bit of contact and a few scrums. They were a test for Richardt. Isa seemed to come through okay as well but to be honest, I haven’t spoken to him. I just expect things from Isa like the crowd do.
There’s always a few niggles and guys moving in and out of training but in the main, we’re pretty happy to have a good group to select from.”
It will take nothing short of a miracle for Leinster to reclaim their crown in 2013 and, looking back over the season so far, Schmidt admits he has several regrets.
“I don’t think you ever end up in a situation like this without a few regrets,” he added. “I remember the week prior to the round four game, I certainly had regrets. We were in that game away in Clermont.
“We feel we probably had a couple of opportunities to steal the win or at least get a draw and not getting that is a regret. Not having as much firepower as maybe we’d like to have had, that’s a regret. But there’s a lot of positives as well.
“You always feel that there’s a little bit of stuff that has gone your way and a little bit of stuff that hasn’t. Probably less has gone our way this year and we have to try to influence that as best we can with the things we can control and get as many things right this week.”
Scarlets sit bottom of Pool 5 with just two points from four games played and come into the fixture on the back of a 47-17 Pro12 loss to Ulster but Schmidt won’t be taking the Welsh side lightly.
“I thought Ulster last week against Scarlets did a good job to build scoreboard pressure and they didn’t play any different than they normally play. They scored a number of tries late in the game and if you can build scoreboard pressure, you tend to force the other team to open up the way they’re playing and maybe that’s a way to force a result.
“At the same time, watching the first 30 minutes of that game, you’re kind of wondering how Ulster were in front at half-time because Scarlets I felt had the better of that first 30 minutes. Ulster are a quality side obviously and changed that in the second half. Despite probably not dominating in the first half, they led at half time.
Guy and Simon (Easterby) have maybe had a couple of chats this week and one brother is probably pretty keen to get his nose in front of the other,” he joked.
“In all seriousness, we still have to play them again in the Pro12 in a couple of months time and you want to make sure you make a statement every time you play a team, particularly when you know you’re going to have to go back and play them again in the reasonably near future.
“We want to make sure that they know that you bring a certain physical edge and a style of play that’s going to threaten your opponent, and I’ve no doubt that’s exactly what they’ll want to bring.”
