HEINEKEN CUP LAUNCH:THE WOUNDS, especially psychological, are greater for Munster than for Leinster as they build toward their opening Heineken Cup matches this weekend, but both sides are likely to be without their first-choice tightheads arising from separate incidents in last Saturday's game at the RDS.
Munster are resigned to having John Hayes suspended for their opening games away to Northampton this Saturday and at home to Perpignan the following Friday, pending his disciplinary hearing this evening. Meanwhile, Michael Cheika admitted Stanley Wright “is going to be doubtful” for the opening of their defence at home to London Irish on Friday, and the trek to the Scarlets a week later, due to the pectoral muscle injury he sustained in that game.
Hence, opportunity may knock for both Tony Buckley and Mike Ross, for this competition and the November internationals, depending on the length of any ban for Hayes.
More pressingly, Hayes’ probable absence for the first two rounds in Europe has major implications for both Munster’s scrum and lineout. Hayes has started a remarkable 67 Heineken Cup games in a row since the 2001-02 season. Of Buckley’s 59 games for Munster, and 10 in the Heineken Cup, only one was from the kick-off in Europe, and he won’t have happy memories of that quarter-final away to Gloucester two seasons ago.
Admittedly, Buckley was playing out of position at loose-head after Marcus Horan aggravated a back injury in the warm-up. Freddie Pucciariello was located in his suit somewhere in the vicinity of the ground and called in after 33 minutes to defend a five-metre scrum at Buckley’s expense in one of the game’s seminal moments.
Wright has been durable and versatile since he arrived three months into the 2006-07 season, playing in 66 of Leinster’s last 73 matches, and starting in 58 of them. His anticipated loss is partially offset by the probable return of the unfortunate CJ van der Linde, alias the Lord Lucan of Irish rugby.
Munster can also welcome back Jerry Flannery, Paul O’Connell, David Wallace and Paul Warwick for their first competitive starts of the season, as well as Alan Quinlan, though the illnesses and injuries which have compounded the unavailability of so many frontliners until now is hardly ideal, as coach Tony McGahan conceded yesterday at the Irish launch of the Heineken Cup in Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel.
“But all we can control is our attitude, our mindset and the way we need to play, so that’s what we’ll be focusing on this week,” he said.
McGahan admitted “Sunday morning was very difficult to wake up, you were hoping for a bit more darkness and that the morning wouldn’t come.
“Yesterday was a long day, but today we’re feeling good and looking forward to the weekend. Our core principles are what we need to be good at this week, implementing them, and we’re really looking forward to getting into the competition and playing a good Northampton side this weekend.”
While acknowledging Munster were second best in the set-piece and especially the lineout, as well as in their kicking game and at the breakdown, Paul O’Connell tellingly admitted: “I think if we were to start thinking everything was technical problems, we’d be wrong. I think a lot of our problems at the weekend were probably mindset and attitude.
“I think if we sort those out then we can see what technical problems we have. I don’t think there’s a lot to be achieved by knocking lumps out of each other. We have to hit the level we’re happy at mentally going into games and then we can start fixing the little bits and pieces in contact work in training.”
For their part, Leinster might conceivably have won too handsomely for their own good.
“I suppose there is always the danger,” admitted Leo Cullen, “but I’ve already started looking at London Irish, as of this morning. You just have to look at some of their performances this year to get a realisation of the task that’s ahead of us on Friday.”
Cullen revealed he and his London Irish counterpart Bob Casey roomed together as boarders in Blackrock when the latter went there in fourth year.
“Then I played two years with him at senior cup. I’ve known Bob for a long, long time and was actually away with him on holidays during the summer, so we’ve got to know each other pretty well.”
While they played mostly together, “you kind of get used to playing against friends over the years. The way the game has gone, you’re going to be up against guys you know well. It’s always a lot easier when you win, I suppose,” said Cullen with a knowing smile.
With London Irish noted for playing the most fluid running rugby in the Premiership this season, Michael Cheika pointed to the Exiles’ “unbelievably solid set-piece. I think Sale hardly won a lineout. And looking at their videos, they’ve got an unbelievably good defensive lineout led by Bob Casey and (Nick) Kennedy.
“Their scrum is quite destructive, I think they’ve scored two or three penalty tries already this year and maybe one other pushover.”
Also highlighting their pace out wide, Cheika noted Sailosi Tagicakibau has scored more tries (six) than Leinster (five) this season.
However, with Delon Armitage and Topsy Ojo already hors de combat, Irish’s England under-20 winger Adam Thompstone, who scored a hat-trick against Leeds a fortnight ago, yesterday underwent surgery on a fracture dislocation of his left ankle sustained in the 11-8 win over Sale last Friday which will sideline him for up to four months.
Furthermore, centre-cum-scrumhalf Peter Richards was yesterday suspended for a week following his red card for elbowing Sale’s Neil Briggs.
