New-look Leinster ready for the next step, says Easterby

RUGBY MAGNERS LEAGUE:THREE OF last season's coaching ticket have departed; a cadre of experienced players have retired; their European crown has slipped; they lost the Magners League final at home; they have a brute of a draw in the Heineken Cup, and a combination of central contracting and the imminence of the World Cup means many of their front-liners will scarcely play half the games in an expanded Magners League. Ye Gods. Leinster supporters are entitled to be a tad apprehensive about a new season.

The new management ticket, headed by Joe Schmidt, always knew the 2011 World Cup was going to result in player restrictions, and new manager Guy Easterby maintains “it’s still a pretty good hand”.

Schmidt, with retained forwards coach Jonno Gibbes, skills and kicking coach Richie Murphy and scrum coach Greg Feek, inherits a high-achieving squad of players with a winning culture.

“Even the younger lads have been part of that winning mentality and they’re going to get their opportunity,” says Easterby. “For some of them it might prove too soon, but in a year or 18 months’ time we’re going to come out with a couple of decent players who may otherwise have never got that exposure at such a young age.”

Easterby talks about the likes of flanker Rhys Ruddock, capped in the summer, and 20-year-old prop Jack McGrath, of whom much is hoped.

To that can be added fellow flankers Paul and Dominic Ryan, and an opportunity should finally knock for Devin Toner.

Leinster finished top of the Magners League by dint of having the best defence, with only Connacht scoring fewer tries. However, the change in the tackle law and limitations on the kick-chase game have combined to reward teams who counter and keep the ball in hand.

The All Blacks have led the way, and one imagines the Kiwi Schmidt will be eager to follow suit, particularly given Leinster’s vintage crop of strike-runners are being supplemented by a wave of talented tyros, plus the return of Luke Fitzgerald.

As a specialist backs/assistant coach to Vern Cotter, who helped transform Clermont Auvergne into a multi-faceted team who played with depth and width, and which claimed a first Bouclier du Brennus last season, Schmidt’s arrival could be perfect timing.

He would seem almost the polar opposite from the ultra-demanding, ultra-driven Michael Cheika in temperament, but Easterby says: “He’s a pretty steely bloke. Joe won’t accept mediocrity any more than Checks would; he’ll just go about it in a different way.He’ll pull people and raise his voice, and he’s done it already.

“I think it’s been big call for him coming over here with his family, and it’s massive for his career. He could have stayed out in Clermont as a legend and carried on there as an assistant coach. But he’s really put his hand up for a big job in a difficult first season. He’s come in and gone about his business brilliantly and everyone has taken to him.

“A new voice is pretty important. Five years of Checks has been fantastic, and has taken us to a level we weren’t at when he arrived, and I just think we’ve picked the right man and the right team to take us on to that next level.

“I think the players have the inherent belief in themselves that they maybe didn’t have. Their discipline is a lot better and the senior players really bought in to what Checks brought. But then on top of that they’re really buying in to what Joe is bringing.

“Everyone will say they loved their time under Michael, but they’ll also say that they were ready for a new voice, and that’s exactly what Joe is.”

In contrast to a tough Heineken Cup schedule, the league has a more developmental look to it for Leinster and Munster, but Easterby says the management cannot afford to countenance such thinking. As they are without Leo Cullen and Kevin McLaughlin, Stan Wright’s injury means Mike Ross’ battle for fitness this week is critical.

Easterby, as Leinster’s former chief scout, is helping Schmidt and scrum coach Greg Feek to “scour the globe” for a new tighthead, but demand way exceeds supply. And as Easterby says: “With the Currie Cup and the NPC on, even in six weeks’ time players won’t be released. It’s caused a bit of a headache, to be honest.”

Defeats with young, experimental line-ups to comparatively full-strength Wasps and Leicester “haven’t been disastrous, by any means”, according to Easterby, and have been very useful.

Friday night’s hosts, Glasgow, have been decimated by injuries, so opportunity knocks.

“There’s no question it’s going to be a tough year,” concludes Easterby. “We’re not stupid. We’re not trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, but certainly we’re going to give it a really good go and I think there are some great opportunities for us.”