Schmidt ready to welcome old friends

PRO 12 LEAGUE LEINSTER v MUNSTER:The Leinster coach has to decide how many returning internationals to field on Friday, writes GAVIN CUMMISKEY

DECISION TIME. Joe Schmidt is one of the more forthcoming coaches we tend to come across in Irish sport and while he wasn’t going to divulge the Leinster XV for Friday night’s visit of Munster to Dublin he did give us a pretty good steer yesterday.

“We will obviously favour some of the internationals who haven’t played, you could take that for granted that some of those guys will play and they will play in the place of some of the guys who have done a really good job for us so far, but that’s not necessarily a form-based thing but a necessity-based thing because we need to get everyone back into the environment,” said Schmidt.

Considering the results-based environment the provincial coaches must thrive in, the central control of Ireland’s international players can drive them mental, especially at this juncture of the season.

Schmidt’s Munster counterpart Tony McGahan adopted a similar stance to Howard Beale in the film Network last weekend by flooding his Irish players back into Munster red. The Australian simply cannot afford another failure in the business of European Pool qualification and the arrival of Northampton to Thomond Park on Saturday week may well define their campaign.

Munster must be ready.

Schmidt was more cautious by adhering to IRFU stipulations that kept Brian O’Driscoll, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Seán O’Brien and Gordon D’Arcy on ice. Shane Jennings and Eoin Reddan were not deemed fit enough to feature in the 36-28 victory in Edinburgh while Isa Nacewa was rested.

“I think he is dead right,” said Schmidt of McGahan’s decision to unload the full Munster battalion against Aironi last Friday.

“Dare I say it, he may have got it right and it might not work out for us. The key thing for us is we probably had more guys to get in. We had 14 guys coming and it is pretty hard to get the broom out to 14 guys. You know, I think that is a little more of an advantageous situation for them.

“I think we put seven guys back in. I think he might have put nine guys back in (it was eight), starting or off the bench, so not much different from what we did, it’s just that we have some more guys that need to come in.

“The other thing is, a guy might be an international player and he might be a starting international player but there might not be a massive difference between him and somebody else who is in the squad.

“That is the kind of conundrum that is thrown up on a week-to- week basis.”

At today’s Leinster coaches’ meeting a fairly serious call must be made about fullback. Schmidt was able to avoid this for most of last season as Rob Kearney was injured. But after some excellent form in New Zealand either he or Nacewa, arguably the best attacking player in Europe last season, must be handed the 15 jersey.

Then there are the rest of the three-quarter combinations. Indications from Schmidt are that the D’Arcy-O’Driscoll axis will be realigned but competition for the wing slots is fierce. Two must be chosen from Luke Fitzgerald, Fionn Carr, Fergus McFadden, Dave Kearney and Andrew Conway.

Reddan is struggling with illness so a decision about scrumhalf will not be made until tomorrow evening.

For someone like Leo Cullen this is a game that cannot come soon enough. The Leinster captain ended last season as Ireland’s reserve lock yet by the time the squad landed in New Zealand, Donnacha Ryan’s versatility had reduced him to dirt tracker status.

“For some of the guys who were a bit more heavily involved at the World Cup it takes a bit longer to get over that mental shift but for me, personally, I was just dying to get back and play a game,” said Cullen of last Friday’s outing.

“There is always so many different motivating factors in these games,” Cullen continued, looking ahead to Munster. “There is the rivalry between two sets of players that have worked reasonably closely together over the last three or four months, competing against each other as well. People want to put their case forward there as well.”

It is put to Schmidt that the worm finally turned for him in this fixture last year. Thereafter Leinster’s form, when utilising his brilliant playbook, reached stratospheric heights.

“It was a better gauge probably last year because the team that played against Treviso and Edinburgh was relatively similar and again that was the third game in a row,” Schmidt explained. “I’m hoping we don’t take three games this year because it has to happen on Friday and for half a team that haven’t played with us this year. If it takes another week after that we’ll have lost in Montpelier by then and we’ll be hoping to win at home against Glasgow.

“It is just the immediacy of fitting guys in and trying to get started. Last year I think was the culmination of three weeks of frustration (and that) was borne out in a better performance.”

With that daunting trip to Fabien Galthié’s Montpelier rapidly following on Saturday week, something similar is required now.