Leinster and Ulster have chance to exorcise demons

The numbers brook no argument. Leinster conceded seven penalties at the scrum, according to the official figures, one of which was adjudged to merit a penalty try, a handicap that proved too great in Saturday's Champions Cup pool match at the Recreation Ground.

Bath mined this facet of the game for 16 of their 19-point tally in a narrow victory. No one sought potential mitigation in the interpretation of referee Jérôme Garcès – he had a fine match – least of all Leinster's scrum coach, John Fogarty.

The English club exacted a heavy toll and their dominance was a source of acute disappointment. Fogarty addressed the specifics of those shortcomings: “It wasn’t good enough. There’s no way of hiding from that. They managed us early in the scrum, from bind down to set. They chased a bit after [the] set. Our alignment went off a little bit. That left us vulnerable to their snap, that weight coming through. We could put weight through ourselves, but not the right amount of weight, not effectively, because of that.

“That is something we scouted before the game. In all that, there’s the opposition. I’m not going to take anything away from Bath. Their scrum worked very well together. They did a really good job on us.

“It is disappointing and it’s not good enough that we, as a group, didn’t address that over the 80 minutes. That is something – we’ve had a review – we’ve talked about. We’re going to put some things in place to deal with that . . . We’ll make sure we’re able to handle that in the future.”

Another bugbear was Leinster's last lineout of the match, where a couple of players were preoccupied with asking Garcès for a gap and, as a result, replacement hooker James Tracy was forced to throw the ball in or conceding a free-kick for an unnecessary delay. No Leinster jumper took to the air, and the ball was lost.

“That was a misfire, a small miscommunication,” Fogarty said. “That was a mistake in the lineout. You can deal with mistakes. With that mistake, the reaction is hugely important, and the reaction wasn’t good enough. They drove us in that maul after it.”

Leinster won't be able to dwell unduly on their disappointment as Ulster visit the RDS on Friday night, the latter keen to exorcise some demons of their own following a comprehensive defeat to Saracens at Kingspan Stadium.

The selection permutations for both provinces are complicated slightly by the specific number of minutes that Ireland players must have under their belts by January: it is not simply a case of Leo Cullen or Les Kiss picking in-form players.

Leinster expect to have fullback Rob Kearney available for selection, having successfully rehabilitated his hamstring strain, while Mike McCarthy may also return, having passed all the protocols following a concussion suffered in the game against Wasps.

The news isn't as good for Richardt Strauss or Seán O'Brien, who didn't successfully negotiate the various controls last week following their respective concussions, also sustained against Wasps. They therefore had to begin the process again this week.

New Zealand secondrow Hayden Triggs – one of his side's better players against Bath – rolled his ankle during that match, forcing him to limp off injured. He is unlikely to be available for the game against Ulster.