RUGBY:IF LEINSTER are to be taken at their word, Michael Cheika's players will be doing yoga this week, undergoing some relaxation therapy, chilling out to dolphin music and taking deep breathing exercises. Though exposed to plenty of big games in recent years, and peppered with plenty of big-game hunters, Leinster are in unchartered territory this week against serial finalists and medal haulers, and hence are clearly intent on not letting the occasion get the better of them.
In two of Cheika’s previous three years as Leinster coach, and four times in the last nine years, Leinster have not only had this week off but have been enviously eyeing up Munster in the Heineken Cup final. Now it’s their turn, and earned by dint of beating Munster, with all the attendant excitement and pressure that comes with facing two-time winners Leicester Tigers next Saturday in Murrayfield.
Munster’s achievements in winning two of the previous three deciders, plus Ireland’s Grand Slam, Munster’s Magners League and Ireland’s record-breaking Lions’ representation, places the onus on Leinster to close the deal and complete a season that, from an Irish perspective, could never be bettered. More than all of that combined however, is this unique opportunity for Leinster to be crowned champions of Europe.
Yet the Leinster coach maintains: “I don’t think there’s pressure on us. Obviously, we haven’t done enough – that’s the one thing that needs to be clear. We have to go on and win the game, we know that. That’s our mission, but we’re not going to get anxious by it, we’re here to stay calm and understand how we can achieve that mission and against what is a really formidable enemy really.
“The more you look at them, in the scrum and the lineout, and in their power play when they decide to carry it, they’re a very formidable opponent, and even their counter-attack, where Geordan Murphy is a very explosive player, it’s a formidable opponent for us, and what we’re just trying to do is stay relaxed and enjoy the build-up, and as the word says, build up, and build up towards kick-off time.”
That seminal win over Munster may rank as Leinster’s finest Euro hour to date, but Cheika also maintained: “We’ve done nothing in this competition yet. Until you win it, you’ve done nothing in it.”
In boldly going where no Leinster team has ever gone before, Cheika attributed this to four years of “building up a work ethic and a spirit in the team. All we’re trying to do is be a team, be strong, have a good spirit, live our culture and be determined to come back from setbacks.”
As to what a Heineken Cup win would mean for him, Cheika, who won eight New South Wales Premiership finals with Randwick, said: “I haven’t really thought about that to be honest. I’m just the coach, the game is played by the players and it’s all about them really. When it boils down to it I’ve played too, so I remember what it was like as a player, and the only people who win the cups is them, and they win them for their fans and for themselves if they can do that. That’s the one guarantee we can make ourselves, is that we’ll be trying as hard as we can and we’ll put everything we can out there to play our best game possible.”
In keeping with the day’s theme, Cheika described Leinster’s build-up as “relaxed”, undergoing some physical work yesterday before turning their attention more on the game from here on in. “Everyone came through that nicely,” he added, including Rocky Elsom.
Whereas Leicester were winning the Guinness Premiership final, understandably Cheika rested all bar Rob Kearney last week, thereby giving them more time to focus on Saturday’s opponents, “but not getting too buried in it either; thinking more about our own game. We’ve just been pretty relaxed about it really.”
Further to that end, the Munster semi-final win has been done and dusted, with all mention of it apparently off limits, even internally. While Leinster crossed a bridge that day, and assuredly instilled more self-belief into themselves, there is a tacit understanding it will count for little if they don’t now win the cup. This could well be described as the chance of a lifetime for many of them, while it has come too late for many erstwhile team-mates.
While the experiences of former Tigers Leo Cullen and Shane Jennings will be of some benefit, last weekend also offered the entire squad an opportunity to watch what Cheika described as a classic Leicester win.
“They just know how to win, don’t they?” he observed, citing the first 20 minutes of the second period after turning around at three-all when they clinically drew the sting from London Irish. “They just decided ‘we’re just going to keep the ball now’. ‘Irish’ made four to one tackles in the first 20 minutes of the second half. They maybe saw a few things that weren’t going right for them in the first half, which just shows what a champion side they are.”
The Leinster coach maintained that Leicester’s win would inject a significant dose of self-confidence into their ranks rather than be in any way intimidating for his own squad. “Our self-belief is something that’s very strong within the team and like I’ve said, what we’ve got to do is be relaxed and then peak and bring it on the day, because that’s what a cup final is.”
With the Tigers on a roll of 10 wins in 11 games under Richard Cockerill, who has largely retained faith in the same players rather than rotate a considerable squad, Cheika admitted: “They’ll fancy the idea of playing us.”
