'It's not going to be a quiet place to go'

INTERVIEW NATHAN HINES: John O'Sullivangets an insight into what Leinster can expect as they travel to Brive for their Heineken Cup clash

NATHAN HINES is well versed with the snarling intensity that will greet the Leinster players when they take the field in the Stade Amedee-Domenech for Saturday’s pivotal Heineken Cup clash with Brive from his time at Perpignan.

It’ll hardly come as a surprise to his Leinster team-mates, most of whom have played European matches in France. French clubs protect their home turf with a maniacal desire that is pretty much replicated in the grandstands. Form can largely be disregarded so Brive’s current position in the French championship is largely irrelevant.

Hines is the type of player who’ll relish the occasion, enjoy the physicality, while at the same time having a healthy regard for the challenge that awaits Leinster.

“It’s quite tough. Most of the teams in France are very protective of their home grounds. It’s got two big grandstands either side and one side particularly is really close to the pitch; especially for the hooker if he’s throwing in. It’s not going to be a quiet place to go.

“The last time I played there, we won. It was quite narrow, Dan Carter helped us out but Andy Goode had a kick to win and missed it. I played there the year before as well. I can’t remember (exactly), I think we won that one and then the year before we just lost. It’s always tough to go there. If you do win it’s not by much.

“My experience of the ground doesn’t really matter. I think everyone’s going to be prepared for a different atmosphere. Everything’s going to be against us. If we’re on side the crowd are going to call for offside, if we knock a ball back they’re going to call for a knock-on. As long as everyone’s prepared for that, and I think everyone is, then we’ll be fine.”

The former Leicester Tigers outhalf Goode is likely to be a central figure for the home team. His prodigious punting and place-kicking accuracy underpinned his career to date. Hines believes he is the perfect pivot for the current Brive team.

“He’ll be directing them around the pitch and that’s something all French teams need. They’ve usually got a strong pack of forwards and then so long as they’ve got someone else to point them in the right direction, they’re halfway to doing a good job.”

Leinster are smarting from what amounted to a serious setback against London Irish at the RDS last weekend, a result that has given them very little wriggle room in the pool. A number of shortcomings have been addressed on the training paddock and one of those is the lineout.

The Australian-born, Scotland international secondrow admitted: “They (London Irish) have great lineout defence. We missed a couple of calls just by communication so that made it a little bit harder. A couple of times they moved into a spot where they just committed to putting two guys up there and gambled as to where we were going to throw. So once or twice they just put themselves into the position where we coincidentally were going to throw.

“But it’s not so bad. We’ve looked at it this week and looked at how Brive work and hopefully we can get it back to the standard it was at against Munster.”

The French club shouldn’t be as awkward to counter in that facet of play, while Hines confirmed that Leinster would try and go after their hosts in the scrum to negate what is traditionally a strong area for French sides.

Brive present a cosmopolitan challenge, drawing their playing resources from the global rugby family. The standing joke is the French players at the club are having to take English lessons to learn the calls. It won’t dilute the desire to prove themselves in front of the home supporters. Brive only trailed 17-12 to Llanelli before the Welsh side grabbed a converted try in the last minute of the match.

Hines is adamant Leinster don’t feel any additional pressure this weekend and won’t be inhibited in what they want to achieve despite last weekend’s reverse.

“No, it hasn’t really changed anything. We’ve just got to go and win the game.

“We target every game as a win. (We have to) forget about Munster, forget about London Irish and just try and get the win. So all we’re worried about is the challenge on Saturday. If you start worrying about all the points you need and all that sort of stuff then you’ve half-beaten yourself already so just go to Brive with a mindset to win.”