Johannesburg — The Irish media have set their sights firmly on Leinster achieving much grander things than beating the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship (URC) this weekend, but undoubtedly the Irish giants will be a wary bunch when they face the Durbanites.
During a media briefing on Tuesday with Leinster’s Robin McBryde, the focus directed towards the assistant coach was on the team’s most recent triumph against Toulouse in the Heineken Champions Cup and how they will build-up to the final against La Rochelle at the end of May.
It would seem then, that the encounter has been decreed a foregone conclusion and that Saturday’s quarter-final clash at Aviva Stadium (kick-off 6pm) will be a mere formality. Leinster, however, will surely — surely — take nothing for granted.
As was the case last season, they were considered heavy favourites to win both tournaments but ultimately came horribly unstuck. The biggest upset saw the Bulls travel to Dublin for a URC semi-final clash to famously beat the seemingly invulnerable Leinster in their own backyard.
A few weeks earlier, they lost to La Rochelle in the final of the Champions Cup, ending the season trophyless and downcast. It was then with a measure of introspection that McBryde warned against repeating that trauma.
“There are certain things that obviously hurt from last year,” he said when asked how they would avoid a repeat this time around. “I’m talking about the end of the season following the loss to LA Rochelle and in the URC.
“We gorged ourselves on the win against Glasgow and then we really got caught against the Bulls. There are similarities with regards to that where the Sharks have had a couple of weeks just preparing for this game.
“They are arriving early in the week on Wednesday. The Bulls stayed here for the whole week after playing up in Belfast last season.
“When we reflected on some of the lessons that we could learn from selection, did we get it right? Could we have changed more in the build-up?
“We’ve got to learn those lessons …
“Emotionally, it is going to be tough to try and get us back up, but we must get back up there. It is as simple as that.
“There are no excuses. We won’t be caught out again.”
Leinster will have the psychological advantage going into the match. Not only did they only lose one regular season match this season, but earlier they beat the visiting Sharks 54-34. Nevertheless, McBryde warned against assuming a similar outcome.
“It will be a tough challenge on Saturday — the level of the opposition is going to be equally as tough.
“When you look at our match against them at the start of the year, it was a close-enough affair. It was a very physical game. We are not expecting anything less.
“We are at the stage of the season right now,” he added, “where you come up against the best teams. You wouldn’t get this far if there was a weakness.
“They are big men, and it was a tough encounter. They will be well-prepared.
“They have Noel McNamara (the Sharks attack and backs coach) in their ranks as a coach, so he will have inside knowledge. It will make our work even harder on the weekend …
“We will take our learnings from last weekend against Toulouse and anything we think we will have to shore up, we will do so this week and make sure we are ready for the Sharks,” he concluded.
IOL Sport