Matt O’Connor expects ‘abrasive’ Treviso clash

Matt O'Connor on Thursday declined to resurrect the public disagreement with Ireland coach Joe Schmidt about how Leinster tripped up in their Pro12 league campaign. Too tasty for public consumption.

Schmidt’s defence of the IRFU player-welfare scheme, which O’Connor partially blamed for Leinster being occasionally underwhelming, was not on this week’s agenda.

“Haven’t had any of those discussions recently and we’ll probably save those until the end of the season,” he said postponing the debate.

That Treviso appear to have grown in size and are seen as a threat to Leinster's automatic qualification for Europe reflects the situation in which the coach now finds himself.

Nobody expected a dog fight to stay above mid-table and if Leinster now royally screw up, they could find themselves in a Champions Cup playoff against David Humphreys's Gloucester at Kingsholm on May 24th and that could be bad karma.

Destiny

“We did spot that, yeah,” said O’Connor of Gloucester’s home draw. “It doesn’t change anything. We’ve got to make sure we win tomorrow night and make sure we win in Edinburgh and if we do that then our destiny is firmly in our own hands.”

O’Connor, speaking at the LauraLynn children’s hospice which Leinster visited on Thursday, judiciously divided the season in two, giving away ground in the league where he admitted Leinster had been “disappointing”. In Europe he pointed to the matches against Toulon and Bath as proof they can compete with the best.

But big talk of European giants is far removed from this week’s task against a physical Treviso side that will come to Dublin smelling blood. A draw away from home earlier in the season where Leinster leaked two tries should, for most logical reasons, not happen again.

But missing Luke Fitzgerald and Cian Healy, combined with a frisson of nervousness about the consequences of not performing and this could become a match.

Treviso are not complex and are a straightforward team whose scrum is strong but not as good as it once was and who will arrive hoping to beat Leinster up and knock them out of shape. O’Connor knows it.

Treviso, he says, are “what it says on the tin”.

“Basically, they are very physical. They play a pretty abrasive brand of footy and they are pretty abrasive at the set-piece although they haven’t been as dominant at scrum as they have been in recent seasons.

“But they pushed a very good Munster side away from home last week so we have a lot of respect for them. We went over there and probably gifted them two tries.

“To draw that game was incredibly disappointing for us, but it gives us a pretty good understanding that if you’re not at your best then they will compete very hard in every facet of the game and put you under pressure.”

Final home game

Gordon D’Arcy is on the bench and Shane Jennings is unavailable because his return-to-play protocols didn’t pan out. He should be in the mix next week.

That makes it D’Arcy’s and Jimmy Gopperth’s final home game for the club. D’Arcy is due to retire at the end of October after 260 Leinster caps, Jennings at the end of the season, while Gopperth is off to Wasps.

There's better news in the backs where Dave Kearney has recovered from his hip flexor strain to take his place in the back three beside his brother Rob and Zane Kirchner. Ian Madigan is in the centre while Healy's place is taken by Jack McGrath.

O’Connor is positive this season’s mistakes can be repaired.

“The positive bit is that we’ve got a very good group of coaches and players. All the tools are there to fix it,” said O’Connor.

Leinster’s most recent defeat to an Italian opponent came on a trip to Treviso in the Pro12 in September 2010, while Treviso have lost their last five Pro12 matches and conceded a try bonus point in each one.

LEINSTER: R Kearney, Z Kirchner, B Te'o, I Madigan, D Kearney; J Gopperth, E Reddan; J McGrath, R Strauss, M Ross, D Toner, M McCarthy, J Murphy, S O'Brien, J Heaslip (capt).

Replacements: A Dundon, M Bent, T Furlong, T Denton, J Conan, I Boss, G D'Arcy, D Fanning.

TREVISO: J Hayward, A Pratichetti, L Morisi, E Bacchin, L Nitoglia; S Christie, E Gori; M Zanusso, D Giazzon, R Harden, M Fuser, C Van Zyl (capt), P Derbyshire, N Cattina, M Luamanu.

Replacements: A Anae, R Acosta, S Manu, M Swanepoel, F Minto, M Lazzaroni, A Esposito, J Ambrosini.

Referee: L Hodges (WRU).

Verdict: Leinster