McLaughlin enjoying good times

THESE ARE good times for Kevin McLaughlin – indeed perhaps the best of times. Having recently signed a new three-year deal with the European champions, the 27-year-old flanker has brought his physicality to a new level of intensity in recent games.

Having manoeuvred himself into strong contention for a place on the tour to New Zealand, now McLaughlin and his team-mates host Glasgow in Saturday’s second RaboDirect Pro12 semi-final.

They thus stand within three games of an historic double after losing the last two league finals to the Ospreys and Munster, who meet in Friday’s semi-final at the Liberty Stadium.

Excellent in the wins away to Munster and Ulster either side of the quarter-final destruction of Cardiff, and benefiting from a consistent run of games, McLaughlin happily admits he’s in the form of his career so far.

“Personally I feel I’m playing as well as I’ve ever played and my body feels really good. It’s the first time in my career I’ve gone 15 months relatively uninjured so I’m feeling great. I’m feeling as fit as I ever have and I’m really enjoying my rugby at the moment, playing with a great team.”

All that said and done, McLaughlin knows there is still plenty of room for improvement. “I’m always looking to improve my attack. I’m working with Joe and Jonno on that the whole time, so it’s exciting times ahead and hopefully I can push my name in for the tour to New Zealand. Just keep focusing on my games with Leinster, and see what happens.”

Given the height of the Glasgow locks, Ally Kellock and Richie Gray, and that Brad Thorn has displaced Devin Toner in the Leinster second row, you’d have thought there’d be a strong case for including McLaughlin from the start this Saturday. But then again, similar thoughts existed before Schmidt opted for Shane Jennings away to Clermont.

McLaughlin was probably the unluckiest player to miss out on the starting XV in the Heineken Cup semi-final. “I’m an ambitious guy and I want to play all the big games, but we have a team and a squad now where the guys who don’t get picked it’s almost up to them to pick up the lads as much as anything, and you’re the guys running the plays against them during the week and everything.

“So it’s hugely important that you keep your disappointment to yourself and you play on, and when you do get your chance to come you make as big an impact as you can.”

Compensation, of sorts, came by way of captaining Leinster for a third time, and to a third win, this season at Rodney Parade on Saturday. With Schmidt completely changing his starting XV and extending their latest winning run to six (and thereby making it one defeat in their last 27 games), it also underlined the remarkable strength in depth and competitiveness within the squad.

Irish under-20 scrumhalf Luke McGrath became Leinster’s 49th player of the season, yet Schmidt has helped maintain a strong squad spirit while also ensuring ferocious competition for places.

“He definitely keeps you on your toes,” said McLaughlin of his coach. “More than ever there’s an element here that no one is ever fully set in their position. We have such quality here throughout the squad that guys know they have to perform to a certain level no matter what the game because they’ll have someone breathing down their neck ready to take their place.”

Leinster did the double over Glasgow in the Heineken Cup but in the League lost to them at the RDS last September and drew away to them in February.

“They’re on a rich vein of form,” acknowledged McLaughlin. “They’ve only lost five league games this year and we haven’t beaten them in the league, so we’re going to be as focused as we are every week and it’s a semi-final/knockout, and they’re coming to take a scalp, so it’s an exciting game.”

Richie Murphy has also signed a new two-year deal with the provinces to continue as Leinster’s skills/kicking coach, and given their high skills set and the way their place kickers seamlessly rotate, that seems fair enough.

The latest example of this was Ian Madigan’s haul of 17 points with a return of six from seven last Saturday, and he is effectively fourth-choice kicker.

It was only his second start as place-kicker, but he helped ensure their five kickers have landed an 80 per cent ratio in the league.

“The guys are great, they have a great work ethic and there is a fair bit of competition between them. Lads would be losing a few quid in training sessions but that’s all part of it,” revealed Murphy.

“The big thing for us is that they feel that they are stepping up over the process and delivering.”

The squad trained yesterday, with the one notable absentee being Luke Fitzgerald. “No real update on Luke, we are just waiting to hear,” said Murphy. “He is going for surgery, it is a recurrence of the shoulder problem that he has had from the Clermont game so we don’t know exactly what is going to happen.”