Cheika may opt to spring Nacewa from bench

EVER SINCE the announcement of Isa Nacewa’s arrival, the talk amongst Leinster supporters has been what would constitute Michael Cheika’s first-choice backline. As events transpired, long-term injuries to Gordon D’Arcy and Nacewa have denied the Leinster coach a full hand but now, at last, he has it in what is the defining game of Leinster’s season to date.

Once the latter duo were back in harness for the recent games against Ulster, Connacht and Cardiff, the Leinster coach said he and his staff “had a plan” as to how they were to be eased back into the team. Facing into the penultimate and pivotal Pool Two meeting with Wasps at Twickenham next Saturday, Cheika is content he and his coaching staff have seen what they needed to see over the last three games.

He emphasised that “the players who don’t get selected in the starting XV are still going to have a major role to play in such a game and we’ve seen it for probably the first time ever with Leinster this season that our reserve bench has really been able to come and finish games off for us. That’s something that we’re also mindful of because we know it’s going to be a tight match.”

Cheika said his mind has been swayed on some positions over the last three games. “In a few positions, yeah, I’d say so. Just some form has maybe put pressure on certain players who may have had starting spots before, and that’s a good thing for us, so there are a few changes that have been made that way; obviously a few forced.”

Cheika hopes Shane Jennings might be available to play, pending an appeal hearing with an IRFU disciplinary committee into the three-week suspension imposed on the flanker for punching in the recent win over Connacht.

“The team has been looking forward to this game for quite a while now. It’s always strange to manage the two competitions together but now that the game is here you can definitely feel the energy running through the place.”

Bernard Jackman participated in a light session on Monday and was due to do so again yesterday, with Cheika confident the hooker will be available for selection. However, they are “unsure as yet” with regard to CJ van der Linde, who is still troubled by the foot injury he sustained against Cardiff.

Most of the speculation revolves around Leinster’s choice at outhalf, with Felipe Contepomi’s candidature appearing to have been enhanced by the performance against Cardiff, or at any rate Nacewa’s credentials having been undermined. Whatever the choice, the rest falls into place from there.

“We understand the strengths of all the players, particularly in that area and the kicking side; we definitely know the strengths and weaknesses of our players there. Tailoring to the game we want to play we’ll select the side and I think we’ve got that in our minds already. What is the luxury for us is that we always have the opportunity to change mid-game if we have to or if we need to.”

The versatile and game-breaking Nacewa may thus be sprung from the bench. It seems unthinkable that Luke Fitzgerald – Leinster’s leading scorer this season with six tries – won’t be involved from the start, whether continuing in midfield or exchanging places with Gordon D’Arcy, although interestingly four of Fitzgerald’s tries were scored on the wing.

“Obviously it’s the big question on everyone’s mind, will I be selected?” admitted Fitzgerald. “There’s so many quality players there. You would be very disappointed but you could see why different players are getting in for different reasons and it’s really tough. Fingers crossed I’ll get in. I think I’ve been playing quite well and hopefully Michael feels the same way.”

The team might read something like: Kearney; Horgan, O’Driscoll, D’Arcy, Fitzgerald; Contepomi, Whitaker; van der Linde, Jackman, Wright, Cullen, O’Kelly, Elsom, Jennings or O’Brien, Heaslip. Replacements: Blaney, Healy, Toner, O’Brien or Keogh, Keane, Nacewa, Dempsey.

Cheika welcomes the apparently wider confines of Twickenham over Adams Park but stressed: “It’s all about the product that we produce on the day and how much self-belief we have to win the game.”

Indeed, it is the damage to the players’ self-belief caused by that largely self-inflicted defeat to Castres which causes the most concern. Cheika added: “I’ve got a lot of belief in the team. I always have. We took a lot of criticism from that game in France and we can’t get away from that pressure. It gets to you, it gets to the players, they would have been feeling it. So to have the three close battles has been really good for us. I’m not naïve to the fact that we need to play better, believe me; everyone in our squad wants that.”

Breaking down teams has become a recurring feature of wins at the RDS this season, but Cheika disagreed with the view in one English paper that the Magners League was inadequate preparation for Europe. “We have a tough league, very competitive. You look at a team like Cardiff, who haven’t been able to string a lot of league wins together but are leading their (Heineken) Cup pool quite well . . . the league has improved and defences have improved, so that’s put more pressure on our attack to perform.”

Leinster have had four defeats this season in 14 competitive games – the same as Munster incidentally, and the same as at this point last year or when reaching the semi-finals in 2002-03 – and Cheika maintains “as a team I think we’ve got the best depth and we’ve got the best self-belief that we’ve had ever.” Saturday

will go a long way towards

testing that theory.