Gibbes more concerned with his own team

RUGBY:THE PRIORITY for Jono Gibbes this week is to focus on preparing the Leinster pack for Saturday's Heineken Cup semi-final against Toulouse at the Aviva Stadium. The province's New Zealand forwards coach will run through a checklist of pre-match minutiae that will embrace among other items video analysis of their French opponents but it is difficult to escape the notion he considers it a secondary concern.

That may be a subtle reflection on how Leinster have evolved under the shrewd direction of Joe Schmidt since the start of the season.

They are a different prospect, in virtually every respect, from the team which succumbed to Toulouse at the penultimate stage of last season’s European tournament.

In contrast the French side are more of a known entity in terms of personnel and patterns. They will look to replicate much of what they did so effectively against Leinster last season, bringing an unrelenting physical aggression to all collisions points, cluttering the midfield with supplementary resources to try and negate Leinster’s creativity and looking to dictate the tempo of the match.

Toulouse coach Guy Noves can tinker with the composition of his team, slightly constrained by the odd injury, but it is relatively straight forward to chart the variables, personnel wise.

It won’t be the case next season when the French club introduce a raft of Southern Hemisphere recruits.

Nor does it diminish the challenge on Saturday in terms of the quality of rugby the four time European champions can muster: familiarity doesn’t breed contempt but it does define the preparatory parameters.

Gibbes knows Toulouse will pursue familiar pressure points up front, one of which is the scrum. He smiled: “Well, they’re French! They measure things by their scrum. We played Clermont, they had a cut at us; we played Racing, and they had a cut at us. I think they are the big teams in France, and I know Toulouse will have a sniff around there for sure.

“But that’s about them. What we can control is us and getting our stuff right and doing what we are focused on.”

It is the last statement that perhaps highlights Leinster’s evolution in the last 12 months and why Noves might have to spend a little more time along with Yannick Bru poring over DVDs. Gibbes acknowledged development in the effectiveness of the Leinster pack.

“Yeah, I think that’s probably it (improvement in a lot of little things).

“We’ve got a lot of the same personnel but Joe (Schmidt) has probably brought in a focus on different aspects. Collectively the players adapted to that and they have improved. It’s the same personnel but with different focus points. There are things we are always going to work on. Every team has things they don’t like being done against them. Toulouse, we know what they are going to be like.

“We know how good they are, we know their pedigree, and I think in big games it’s about getting your stuff organised, your stuff clear in the way you want to play.

“We’ve played a certain type of game that has got us here, got us this far, and I think it’s important we bring that and play in that same sort of manner.”

In watching Toulouse ease Bourgoin aside with minimal discomfort at the weekend Gibbes was reminded of the nature of the task that Leinster face this weekend in Dublin but in acknowledging that, the New Zealander reiterated the importance of refining the issues within Leinster’s control rather than becoming preoccupied with stopping the opposition. He’s not overly concerned who turns up in Toulouse colours on Saturday.

“There’s a good chance there are going to be 23 internationals involved (for Toulouse), so we know that, we know they can change their pack a little bit and still bring a bit of heat. I think Joe might have better insights than I do. I’m not too fussed about who they bring. I know it’s going to be pretty tough.”

Schmidt will have a full complement of players from which to choose, with the exception of long term injury victim Rob Kearney. Isa Nacewa, Gordon D’Arcy and Jamie Heaslip, who were rested and not asked to travel to Italy last weekend, were on hand as the Leinster squad trained at UCD yesterday afternoon.

The team for the Toulouse match will be announced on Friday