Cheika focuses on Edinburgh

RugbyIt's a case of wait and see for Leinster's walking wounded as coach Michael Cheika named three previously listed casualties, captain Brian O'Driscoll, Girvan Dempsey and Stephen Knoop, in an extended squad ahead of Friday night's Heineken European Cup match with Edinburgh at the RDS.

Dempsey has missed the victories over the Ospreys and Munster with a knee injury but did manage some running and kicking yesterday. O'Driscoll retired with an ankle problem during the game at Musgrave Park but he trained in the gym yesterday morning. Knoop has been out of commission since taking a blow to the head against Ulster but he, too, is close to a return. All three will be expected to prove their fitness in training today.

Cheika attended to one other piece of rugby housekeeping in relation to a story about his assistant coach David Knox's failure to attend the Munster game before addressing the Edinburgh match. The Australian explained: "Knoxy has been here with me for two and a half years and he's had (a fair amount of) time away from home, between his playing and coaching career.

"I can understand it a little bit more because I have spent a lot of time away from home myself. Things happen at home, personal issues and that, and what we want to do at Leinster is be supportive to all our staff, whether it's the coach or players. He's got issues that he's dealing with at home right now and we want to make sure he resolves those as soon as he possibly can.

"As you can see he's here today and he's already been out giving me trouble saying that he should come to less games because 'you're winning without me there'. What we want to do is make sure that he is in the right frame of mind and concentrating. I know that there have been a few rumours about, but it's really a personal issue and (I'd) sort of like it to stay that way."

The immediate priority for Cheika in the wake of a fine performance last Friday night in Cork was to ensure that any euphoria was parked and the focus recalibrated to the upcoming RDS showdown with Edinburgh. "Everyone is acutely aware that we have to put that Munster game behind us which we pretty much did on Sunday; pretty quickly and very much player driven. It (the Munster match) was a forward battle and there was a huge intensity because it was so tight.

"It takes it out of you mentally as well. That's part of what we do here in terms of getting the players to good physical and mental condition as soon as possible after the games. We know we are in this period, November to January, and are going hard at it: two derbies, two European games, Ospreys away, Munster away and now we have the two Heineken games. We have tried to make sure we balance the amount we train with the intensity we train at so we get the right result week in, week out."

The Australian has no doubts that Edinburgh will pose a tricky assignment, a fact borne out by history in terms of this particular match-up. "I think they are going to try and smash us. They come with no inhibition, as you do when you are away from home.

"They're a good team with a lot of strike players. I reckon they have one of the best players going round in Europe at the moment in (Mike) Blair. He's a great organiser, does so much work for them and manages that team. He's a serious threat to you. If you knock off him for one second, he'll be through your line, so we have to be aware of him.

"We have watched three or four (of their) games and decided to get a bit of strategy based on that. They almost beat Munster in Musgrave Park, beat the Scarlets at home, Ulster away and have got form running into this match. They play good footie; can play wide or tight or a mauling game. We'll need to play very well."

Munster will announce a squad team to take on Llanelli in Stradey Park at lunch-time today, as will Ulster who travel to take on the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium on Friday night.

Ulster captain Rory Best has agreed a new two-year contract that will keep him at Ravenhill until June 2010.

LEINSTER SQUAD: G Dempsey, R Kearney, S Horgan, L Fitzgerald, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, G Brown, C Warner, J Sexton, F Contepomi, C Willis, C Keane, J Gomez, C Healy, O le Roux, B Blaney, B Jackman, S Knoop, S Wright, L Cullen, C Jowitt, M O'Kelly, K Gleeson, S Jennings, S Keogh, J Heaslip.

Rugby News Springbok coach to be named on January 9th

The new Springbok coach will be selected on January 9th, the South African Rugby Union announced yesterday.

A meeting of the council of provincial union presidents - which has 19 voting members - will make the choice after receiving recommendations from an nine-man appointment committee.

The four shortlisted candidates to succeed Jake White, who steered the Springboks to victory in the World Cup earlier this year, will be interviewed on December 3rd and 4th.

The contenders are Springbok backline coach Allister Coetzee, SA under-21 coach Peter de Villiers, Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer and 1995 World Cup-winning Springbok wing Chester Williams.