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DECISIONS. It's one aspect of the game that Michael Cheika believes his side have become better at executing as the weeks of the season, and the Australian's tenure, have rolled by and it's difficult to argue with. The improvement, no doubt, has come after the bitter experience of defeat and there's one game in particular that holds the most lessons. Bath at the RDS back in October was a game that Leinster should have won, no question. Three points down heading into the final six minutes of the game, plus eight minutes of injury time, the home side coughed up a couple of balls in promising positions and perhaps most inexplicably of all, failed to work a position for a dropgoal to tie the game.
They've been playing catch-up ever since.
Today, Leinster have an opportunity to stop all that chasing and actually achieve something concrete. Victory against Bath at the Rec will propel Cheika's side into the last eight of the competition as one of the two best runners-up from the six pools. If it seems simple on paper, it's going to be anything but that on the pitch. In raw terms, this game will come down to how the Leinster forwards cope with the physicality and might of the Bath eight. The home side, now under the stewardship of Brian Ashton, may not be as blinkered in their forward-orientated approach as they were under John Connolly, but they're still a formidable forward unit with the likes of Steve Borthwick, Danny Grewcock, Michael Lipman and Isaac Feaunati representing an exceptional challenge for any pack in Europe. And Leinster, as we well know by now, aren't exactly the incredible hulks of the continent.
"Listen, you go and see the national selection and you see all our backs are nearly picked and only a couple of our forwards, " says Cheika.
"You don't have to be a genius to work that out. But as a forward myself, I want to change that."
This afternoon those Leinster forwards will need to secure something in the region of 40 per cent of possession in order to get their backline . . . on paper, arguably the best in Europe . . . the raw materials with which to do their magic.
It's a feat that's just about achievable, you'd imagine, although the line-out operation will have to be bang on the money all game if this is to happen. So Leinster's season hangs in the balance but Cheika, cleverly enough, isn't putting the success or otherwise of his first year in charge on just one fixture.
"I have bigger-picture plans for this team as well, " says the coach. "I know a lot of people are saying we're playing for our season and all that type of stuff but I don't look at it that way. We understand the urgency of the situation but we also understand the bigger picture as well."
Maybe with no gun to their heads, they just might be cool and calm enough to pull it off.
HEINEKEN CUP POOL FIVE BATH v LEINSTER The Recreation Ground, 3.00 Referee Nigel Owens (Wales) Live, Sky Sports 2, 2.50
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YOU ARE HERE: 19 March 2007 / tribune.ie / 2006 / 01 / 22
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