PLANET RUGBY

By Gavin Cummiskey

The backroom teams on match-day

WE HAVE a good idea of the 30 men taking the field at 5.29pm on Saturday but what about those responsible for making it all run smoothly beneath the surface. Here are the Munster and Leinster backroom teams, either pitchside or in the stand, this weekend.

LEINSTER

STAND: Head coach: Michael Cheika; Technical coach: Alan Gaffney; Forwards coach: Jono Gibbes; Technical analyst: Emmet Farrell; Defence coach: Kurt McQuilkin; Kicking coach: Richie Murphy.

PITCHSIDE: Operations manager: Ronan O’Donnell; Physio: James Allen; Strength and conditioning coaches: Jason Cowman, Chris Dennis; Doctor: Professor Arthur Tanner; Masseur: Michael Thompson; Kit manager: Johnny O’Hagan; Media and communications manager: Peter Breen.

MUNSTER

STAND: Head coach: Tony McGahan; Forwards coach: Laurie Fisher; Defence coach: Jason Holland.

PITCHSIDE: Manager: Shaun Payne; Fitness coach: Paul Darbyshire (water); Technical adviser: Anthony Foley (water); Doctors: Tadhg O’Sullivan (Cork) and Mick Shinkwin (Limerick); Physio: Anthony Coole; Fitness: Tom Cummins; Operations manager: Brian Murphy; Kit manager: Zach Kiely; Masseur: David Revins; Media and communications manager: Pat Geraghty

Great result in 2006 for 'us country people'

SATURDAY MARKS the 133rd edition of the Munster-Leinster rivalry but, for now at least, the match that dwarfs the rest of them took place on April 22nd, 2006, at a Lansdowne Road packed to the rafters with Munster fans (many in Leinster allocated areas like the north terrace).

Munster convincingly won the tie 30-6 and the debate remains settled after two convincing victories, with a combined score of 40-5, in this season’s Magners League. “It’s great for us country people to come up here and get a result,” said Munster captain Anthony Foley in 2006.

Foley said the win did a lot for Munster people living in Dublin. It certainly did. Malcolm O’Kelly knocked on Ronan O’Gara’s kick-off as everything that could go wrong for Leinster did go wrong. They were also destroyed by the Munster pack.

Leinster’s support base has grown, as proven by the numbers that now follow them on the road. The Munster team have evolved as well. Two-time European champions. At least Leinster’s starting XV will be notably stronger this time.

LEINSTER: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, D Hickie; F Contepomi, G Easterby; R Corrigan, B Blaney, W Green; B Williams, M O’Kelly; C Jowitt, K Gleeson, J Heaslip. Replacements: E Miller for Jowitt (57 mins), R McCormack for Corrigan (69 mins). Not used: D Blaney, N Ronan, B O’Riordan, K Lewis, R Kearney.

MUNSTER: S Payne; A Horgan, J Kelly, T Halstead, I Dowling; R O’Gara, P Stringer; F Pucciariello, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell; D Leamy, D Wallace, A Foley (capt). Replacements: R Henderson for Kelly (14 mins), T O’Leary for Henderson (66 mins), F Roche for Foley (74 mins). Not used: D Fogarty, M O’Driscoll, S Keogh, J Manning. Sinbinned: Pucciariello (73 mins).

Referee: Joël Jutge (France).

Leinster move the goal posts

NORMALLY LEINSTER are quite helpful with player and coach access but they changed their routine this week opting to get media commitments done and dusted yesterday evening. For those unaccustomed to Dublin traffic, holding an event at 6pm on a Monday evening in Bective Rangers RFC (just off Donnybrook main street) is a recipe for congestion to say the least.

Journalists were also unaware who they would be interviewing until arrival at the Bective clubhouse. We were also informed at 4.31pm that Eoin Reddan has signed a three-year deal with the province.

It is well established in the week of such big games that players rarely depart from the party line but the arrival of Leinster TV this season has ensured the media are not even asking the questions in some instances. PR, we fear, continues its attempts at world domination. There is one more bite of the cherry on Friday lunch time with captains Leo Cullen and Paul O’Connell expected to be available for “flash quote access” (whatever that means).

LIONS ON duty this weekend in the Heineken Cup semi-finals:

MUNSTER (7): Paul O’Connell (captain), Jerry Flannery, Donncha O’Callaghan, Alan Quinlan, David Wallace, Keith Earls, Ronan O’Gara.

LEINSTER (3): Jamie Heaslip, Luke Fitzgerald, Brian

O’Driscoll.

CARDIFF BLUES (6): Gethin Jenkins, Martyn Williams, Andy Powell, Leigh Halfpenny, Jamie Roberts, Tom Shanklin.

LEICESTER TIGERS (1): Harry Ellis.