Michael Cheika expects Leinster's Heineken Cup Pool to go down to the wire but has backed stand in Shaun Berne to deliver in the key out-half role against Llanelli Scarlets.
Speaking ahead of the game, Cheika revealed that aside from out-half Johnny Sexton, who is ruled out with a broken hand, full-back Girvan Dempsey is the only new concern after a ‘knock’ at training, while prop Stan Wright is in the mix to play after returning early from an injury enforced lay-off.
The Australian has backed stand-in out-half Shaun Berne, even though Leinster had sought to bring in Wallabies maestro Matt Giteau on a short-term deal once Sexton was ruled out.
He said: ‘Obviously you'd like to have all of your best players available but we knew that through November we'd probably get one, if not two injuries. It's just the probability of having that many players in the squad really. Jonny (Sexton) has become a very influential player in the team for us but we've got a lot of confidence in Shaun Berne and he'll be doing the job this weekend and he'll do it very well I'm sure.
‘The first person that I would have told that we were having a look (at Matt Giteau) was Shaun. He, like us, understands that the more quality players we have available the better chance we have of winning any game.
He added: ‘We needed to get someone to fill the hole with Jonathan (out), but his absence won't be that long. So now we're not looking for anyone else. We had our chance to bring in quality, we were unable to, so now we have moved on as a squad as a whole.’
Commenting on squad management, with each of three provinces taking a different tack as their international players come back on stream after the November internationals, Cheika admitted his hand was forced by a series of events that led to an inexperienced team suffering a demoralising loss to the Newport-Gwent Dragons.
He said: ‘There's no right or wrong way to go about these things and last week. Munster chose to play most of their guys, Ulster were probably forced not to play some of their players because they got injured, and we made a decision to rest the team and start preparing for this week's game. As long as you've got a plan and you feel confident, and the players feel confident, then that's the way you've got to proceed.
Commenting on Leinster's 30-14 defeat to the Dragons, Cheika added: ‘I can understand why maybe I got a bit of criticism last week because it was not the scenario that I would have liked to have had. I would have liked to have had younger players playing with Girvan (Dempsey), Shaun Berne, maybe with Shane Jennings as well if he was available and with Stan Wright.
'But we don't have the same depth because of those injuries or suspensions. So it didn't work out the way I wanted it to in my mind's eye.'
Looking forward to the pivotal back-to-back games against Llanelli Scarlets, Cheika said he expects Leinster’s pool to go down to the wire with four strong teams still involved, and he expects the Scarlets' running game and open approach to pose a threat.
He said: ‘The situation in the Heineken Cup now is that the teams in this group are staring each other down. It will be case of who blinks first. There are so many match ups to come about now over the next two months and it's an interesting set of circumstances because Irish will have to go to Scarlets, the Scarlets will have to come here, Brive have to come here, we have to go to London.
‘It's going to go down to the last day. But, for us, our only possible outlook can be on going down to Llanelli and winning the match at the weekend. All of the rounds are worth four points. The only game that is critical to us is round three. I know that's quite clichéd, but round four mightn't mean anything if we don't win in round three.
Commenting on the Scarlets, he said: ‘The Scarlets are a carefree side. They play running rugby and they will look to attack. Stephen Jones is a class operator. They have a really good 8-9-10 axis and in (David) Lyons he is playing better football in Europe than he ever played in Australia. Martin Roberts has come on a lot. They have a great offload game and they're very well managed with a pack that will go on the front foot.
‘They're a very passionate crowd and you know that you're going to be playing in a tough game. We're going to be in the lions den before so we know that we can manage the crowd by the way that we play.’
