WITH CRUNCH ENCOUNTERS in the United Rugby Championship and the European Champions Cup on the horizon in the next fortnight, assistant coach Robin McBryde has acknowledged Leinster’s international contingent will need to reintegrate quickly back into the provincial system.
Including their co-captains James Ryan and Garry Ringrose, Leinster had no fewer than 19 players in the Ireland squad for this year’s successful Six Nations campaign – all of whom, remarkably, saw game time at some point in the tournament.
While Jordan Larmour and Harry Byrne played against Cardiff in the URC during a fallow week in the Championship at the beginning of this month – and Ciaran Frawley played the first half of their win away to Zebre on Saturday – the remainder of the province’s Irish stars last saw action in a European pool stage victory against Leicester Tigers at Welford Road on 20 January.
Leinster will once again face the English Premiership outfit on Saturday week (6 April) in a pivotal Champions Cup Round of 16 bout at the Aviva Stadium. Before then, Leo Cullen’s men will take on 2021/22 finalists The Bulls in a top-of-the-table URC contest this Friday (kick-off 7.35pm) in the RDS and it is anticipated their fit and available internationals will play in one or both of these fixtures.
“I think it’s important that you treat each case individually because match minutes is one thing, but they have all been in that pressure environment. If you’re lucky enough to get selected, you get to vent some of that preparation time etc,” McBryde remarked at a media briefing held at the Ken Wall Centre of Excellence in Energia Park yesterday.
“It’s just a case of sitting down and discussing how players feel, but we are getting to the business end of the season. Nobody can expect to have too long a lay-off because we have got to hit the ground running. That starts on Friday against a strong Bulls team.
“They are up there competing, they are probably pushing to get a home draw further down the line. Two seasons ago, they came over here and beat us in a semi-final.
“I’m sure they will still take confidence out of that, albeit it’s two years down the road. We are going to have to get everybody reintegrated and build that cohesion in a very short space of time.”
After a foot problem saw him making way for Henry McErlean at half-time in Parma last weekend, a final decision will be made on the availability of Frawley for Friday’s game later this week.
Although the aforementioned Ryan is expected to remain sidelined with an arm injury picked up in a freak accident during Ireland training ahead of their penultimate round Six Nations defeat to England, there is every possibility that Hugo Keenan and Jimmy O’Brien (who was ruled out of contention for this year’s spring international window) will have recovered from their respective hip and neck issues to feature in the Leicester game.
This triumvirate will certainly want to be back and firing on all cylinders for what Leinster are hoping is an exciting and ultimately rewarding business end to both the URC and the Champions Cup. The closing stages of these competitions could prove to be particularly memorable for fans of the eastern province, especially those who recall their Heineken Cup semi-final win against arch rivals Munster in 2009.
That game took place at Croke Park due in part to the Aviva Stadium still being under redevelopment at the time and with the Lansdowne Road venue set to become unavailable for a significant period later this year, the GAA agreed over the weekend to make their headquarters available to Leinster for potential knockout games in both the URC and the Champions Cup.
Having been part of the Welsh coaching set-up for Six Nations showdowns against Ireland in 2008 and 2010 at Croke Park, McBryde would relish a return to the north Dublin stadium.
“I have been fortunate enough to have had the experience of going there, and winning there [in 2008], by the way! It is some stadium,” McBryde added.
“It would be welcomed by the supporters as well, I’d imagine. Going there supporting Leinster, I think it would be great.”
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