Schmidt left playing a waiting game

MAGNERS LEAGUE NEWS:IN POKER parlance, it resembles trying to bet without knowing the cards at hand. Leinster coach Joe Schmidt must prepare a Leinster team for Saturday's Magners League game against Edinburgh at the RDS based on an educated guess as to which players might be available to him.

He’ll be better versed with his selection options today when Ireland coach Declan Kidney releases certain players back to the provinces from the national training camp in Limerick.

Schmidt’s position is no different to that of Tony McGahan (Munster), Brian McLaughlin (Ulster) and to a lesser extent, personnel wise, Eric Elwood (Connacht).

The upcoming November Test series has always cast a long shadow over the Magners League at this particular juncture in the season.

He admitted: “It makes preparation for this weekend relatively difficult. I think there’s a couple we can maybe guess at, but it’s crazy to get because we’re not absolutely sure.

“They might want to give more game-time to some. Jonny Sexton has only had three games, so is that enough to have him in top shape? I’m not sure. There are other guys, like Luke Fitzgerald, who took a bit of a knock but could have played for us last week.

“I don’t know really what their (Ireland management) thoughts are, as far as those kind of guys are concerned.”

The earliest any returning players would be available to train with the province would be tomorrow morning but there is a suggestion some might return closer to the weekend, in which case, according to Schmidt, “all we can do is put them in the reserves: because you just can’t have a training week, without the playing staff there”.

Leinster’s recent victories over Munster and Connacht provided them with some impetus in the tournament but that momentum could dissipate again as they face an Edinburgh side – they beat Leinster at Murrayfield already this season – who should have their full complement of Scottish internationals.

Schmidt conceded: “Yeah, it is frustrating, to be honest, especially leading up to the break. This match will hang over us for the break. It’s also the bad luck of the draw. Edinburgh are a good side. They showed that the last time we played them, with a fairly good team.

“With that team, guys were still finding out where everyone was and it was all kind of reshaping.

“We’d just got some continuity in selection and in the way we were playing, so the frustration is not so much that we’re going to have a lot of new guys and a lot of young guys playing, just that we have to sort of get that cohesion again; that’s really important, obviously.

“The fact that it’s Edinburgh means they’ve got all their Scotland players available. I think even some of the Welsh teams don’t have everyone available so it would have been nice to have drawn anyone but a Scottish side this weekend.

“But we can’t change the draw. It’s kind of the same when we play the Dragons in a few weeks time as well. They don’t have any Welsh player so they’ll be more or less unaffected, whereas we’ll have anything up to 13 players out, by the looks of what’s happened this week.”

The Leinster coach though is satisfied that those young players who make the team this weekend can acquit themselves well.

“Yeah, it is an opportunity for them to represent Leinster first and foremost, so they’ve a responsibility to the jersey and the hard work that’s been going in, but I think you’d be doing them a disservice if you underestimated the hard work they’ve been putting in, in helping us to prepare for some of these other games.

“They’ve been going out and playing the attacking strategy of the opposition team. They’ve been doing their defence against our attacking strategy.

“They’ve been working really hard and they deserve to get this opportunity. And at the same time, they have a responsibility to make the most of that opportunity.”

Ed O’Donoghue, who has been sidelined with a knee injury, is making good progress and could be available for duty if required this weekend.

Call-up for duo

IRELAND COACH Declan Kidney has called in Connacht prop Brett Wilkinson and Leinster’s Luke Fitzgerald to the national squad training camp in Limerick this week, writes John O’Sullivan.

Wilkinson replaces Munster’s Marcus Horan, who broke a bone in his wrist in a training accident with the province and has been ruled out for several weeks.

Fitzgerald wasn’t named in the original 34-man squad due to a hip injury he sustained in Leinster’s Heineken Cup victory over Saracens at Wembley but having returned to training in the interim he has recovered sufficiently to join up with the Ireland squad.

The Ireland team will face South Africa at the Aviva stadium, the first of four Test matches, on Saturday week.