RUGBY: MICHAEL CHEIKA yesterday confirmed the odds are slightly against Jonathan Sexton recovering from an operation on the fractured jaw he sustained against Clermont Auvergne in time for the Heineken Cup holders' semi-final away to Toulouse on May 1st.
Sexton had the procedure on Saturday after landing seven from eight for a 19-point haul in Leinster’s thrilling 29-28 win over Clermont at the RDS last Friday, and the Leinster coach admitted the medical prognosis for a full recovery is three to four weeks.
“I would say it is probably going to be a few weeks. I would say it is fairly touch and go as to whether he plays in the semi or not. Our first concern is this week’s match (versus Ospreys), but he is definitely out of that one.”
Rob Kearney is in a similar position to Sexton after suffering an ankle ligament strain against Clermont. “He is not as bad as we first thought,” said Cheika after training yesterday. “When you get carried off on a stretcher it isn’t ideal, but, again, he will be touch and go and he is definitely out of this week’s match.”
Furthermore, the knee injury Brian O’Driscoll picked up against Clermont has ruled him out of Friday’s visit of the Ospreys to the RDS on Friday and he was also omitted from the 27-man squad announced yesterday.
“We are probably a little bit more hopeful on him now, of getting himself right in the next couple of weeks,” said Cheika.
There was, at least, better news concerning the latest toe injury to afflict CJ van der Linde and force his departure at half-time last Friday, and he could play next Friday. Similarly, Gordon D’Arcy and Shane Horgan have been named, despite not being able to train yesterday in the expectation that they play against the Ospreys, though that remains to be seen.
However, Cheika ruled out rumours of a quicker than expected recovery for Seán O’Brien. The next few weeks are likely to stretch Leinster’s resources, though at least their continuing aspirations of a double will maintain interest within the squad too.
Cheika watched Toulouse gradually tear apart his prospective employers, Stade Français, in Sunday’s last quarter-final and was sanguine about the heights scaled by Guy Noves’ team.
“Everything varies from week to week. Before the game the commentators were saying they haven’t been great this year and after the game they were saying, ‘Oh my God, they are geniuses’.
“You know what their potential is because their playing roster hasn’t changed a whole lot over the years, except it has probably got a bit stronger and they have added some new blood. They have got amazing depth from the bench. Knowing the way of thinking down there a little bit, I don’t think they mind too much it is us. I think they would prefer it to be us than, say, Munster.”
Asked why that might be so, the Leinster coach said: “Maybe they think we are still a little bit tender. That might be the impression of Leinster in France and, also, everyone in France seems to think we were a bit lucky to win the other day and don’t see the work that went into the match either.
“We believe in ourselves . . . We have got to manage our resources well and we have had a good season so far. We haven’t had many losses. We are very proud of that record and we will get stuck in as long as it takes from Friday because we are going to have a congested fixture list too. There is the refixed match with Connacht to get in as well. With the injuries we are going to have to manage our resources pretty much perfectly to get everyone in the best possible position for that match.”
Fiercely competitive though Stade Français were in the contact zone, forcing several turnovers and slowing down Toulouse possession at the breakdown, they could not carry the game to Toulouse enough, something Leinster did so thrillingly in their 41-35 quarter-final win at Le Stadium four years ago in Cheika’s first season.
“The focus has got to be on ourselves. Maybe I was a bit guilty, maybe because we hadn’t played Clermont before I was bit guilty of making the team too aware of the opposition’s threats as opposed to worrying about Leinster so that’s a lesson learned for me. I’ll just get the team sorted out in its own play.
“We have worked on a lot of basic play now that we are going to stick to over the next while – get everyone positive about our own attack and defence.
“That’s all for another day. On Friday we have to play a team that should probably be in the semi-finals themselves and they will be hurting from it. Hopefully, Ulster can rough them up a little bit (tonight), get them as tired as humanly possible for Friday.”
Cheika played down talk of the Heineken Cup, and their injury toll, in part out of a desire to focus on one match at time. “We’re not getting too far ahead of ourselves. We are pretty happy with where we are at the moment.”
LEINSTER SQUAD(v Ospreys): Forwards– L Cullen, J Fogarty, C Healy, J Heaslip, N Hines, B Jackman, S Jennings, S Keogh, K McLaughlin, M OKelly, Mike Ross, Rhys Ruddock, Richardt Strauss, Devin Toner, CJ van der Linde, Stan Wright. Backs– Shaun Berne, Andrew Conway, Gordon DArcy, Girvan Dempsey, Shane Horgan, Simon Keogh, Fergus McFadden, Isa Nacewa, Paul ODonohoe, Eoin OMalley, Eoin Reddan.
Semi-final on TV
The AIB All-Ireland League semi-final between St Marys College and Old Belvedere will be televised live on RTÉ 2 this Saturday from Templeville Road. Cork Constitution host Dolphin in the other semi-final at Temple Hill.
