LEINSTER COACH MATT O’Connor says he and his squad will learn from some mistakes of last year’s Heineken Cup quarter-final before meeting Toulon again in the Champions Cup semi-final on Sunday.
The Australian has been knocked out of rugby’s European Cup by the eventual champions in both of the last two seasons, suffering defeat in Toulon with both Leicester and Leinster.
Though this year he will take on the sport’s big spenders in Marseille rather than their home turf, he expects nothing short of all cylinders no matter what deficiencies they may have shown in recent wins.
“One of the big mistakes we made last year was looking at their form,” O’Connor said in Leinster’s UCD base yesterday.
“We know the class they have on that roster, we know they have world class players in every position. So we’re preparing for a battle that is going to be as big a game as Leinster have ever had. And we’ll see where we end up at the end of it.”
The message from the coach and captain Jamie Heaslip was clear, searching for a weakness in the Toulonnais armour is secondary to ensuring that Leinster hit all of their own marks and attempt to inflict their own game on the reigning champs.
In his final European fixture, Brian O’Driscoll was embroiled in battle with Delon Armitage. Source: INPHO/Billy Stickland
In any case, Heaslip and his team-mates have certainly felt the big-game impacts start to come in during this week’s training as players set out to make a mark on Europe’s standard-bearers.
“There’s a bit of bite in training which we all like. It lets lads know that everyone’s thinking of the game, thinking about getting the best out of each other and the best out of training.
“There’s an exciting feel about it. Going over against a team of superstars; they’re like the Real Madrid of rugby or something like that. The challenge that poses, we relish it and all the work that has to go in in order for us to be in with a chance.”
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