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Le demi d'ouverture de la province irlandaise
Leinster fly-half Ian Madigan admits their Aviva Stadium European Rugby Champions Cup showdown with Harlequins is “boom or bust”.
Matt O’Connor’s men are looking to bounce back from their 24-18 defeat at the Twickenham Stoop in-front of an army of Leinster fans at Ireland’s national stadium.
They need to beat Harlequins at the Aviva Stadium this Saturday and also deny Conor O'Shea's team a bonus point if they are to regain leadership of Pool Two in the European Champions Cup.
And Madigan has warned his team-mates that they need to turn the tables on Harlequins to take back control of the pool.
He said: “There is massive pressure this weekend. All the chips are across the line – it’s boom or bust this week. We know that as players. Aside from the group and having to take control of the group, the last two times Leinster have played in the Aviva we’ve lost.
“In the lead-up to Christmas the supporters are showing their support again. There are going to be over 40,000 people at this game.”
Leinster have been boosted by the news that England captain Chris Robshaw and European rugby points machine Nick Evans will both miss the Irish leg of the double-header.
There was a risk that Darragh Fanning and Gordon D'Arcy miss the game after they sat out training this week, but both are expected to be fit for Saturday. Fanning took a number of knocks during the round three contest while D’Arcy was recovering from a slight calf injury sustained in the second half of Sunday's game.
Harlequins flanker George Lowe is banking on another powerful performance up-front to take a firm grip on Pool Two.
He said: “These are the high profile games that get you noticed, playing Leinster in Dublin is huge.We are really happy with how we played last weekend but we also know that is only half the job done.
“But considering what happened against Bath the week before the way we turned it around was great. Joe Marler and Will Collier especially were just fantastic and showed how good they are. I'm a back so I'm not really sure what goes on in the scrum but it has been a massive strong point for us for the majority of this season.”
- Leinster and Harlequins have faced each other just twice in the competition, winning one apiece; the average winning margin in those two games was under four points.
- Asaeli Tikoirotuma was the only player to hit three figures for metres gained in round three (106m), this coming from just five carries.
- Rob Kearney managed six defenders beaten last weekend, more than any other player in round three.
- Chris Robshaw managed four turnovers won last weekend, a Champions Cup round-high.
Les triples champions d'Europe ont longtemps tremblé
Leinster had to fend off a second half fight-back from Harlequins to secure a narrow one-point victory at the Aviva Stadium.
A first half try from scrum half Isaac Boss helped Leinster to an 11-0 lead at half-time but a second half wobble allowed Harlequins to edge in front with quarter of an hour remaining.
It looked to be going in the visitors’ favour until Ian Madigan slotted a crucial penalty nine minutes from the end to seal a vital victory.
Quins had made just two changes for the trip to Ireland, Nick Evans failed to recover from his groin injury so rookie South African fly-half Tim Swiel started at 10 but the 21-year-old missed his first chance at a penalty after just three minutes.
Madigan struck the post with his first penalty for the home side before breaking the stalemate with three points 26 minutes into the contest.
Leinster grabbed the game’s first try after half an hour when captain Jamie Heaslip broke from the base of a scrum and sent scrum-half Isaac Boss over in the corner.
Madigan missed the difficult conversion but slotted a second penalty two minutes before half-time to give the home side an 11-point lead at the break.
Quins crossed the whitewash two minutes into the second period through full-back Mike Brown but referee Romain Poite spotted a knock-on from stand-in captain Joe Marler in the build-up.
Swiel clawed back three points for the visitors with his first successful penalty before Brown touched down for a second time for Quins’ first try.
Quins were quick to recycle the ball after a good break by centre Matt Hopper and after going through the backs Brown was able to go over in the corner with Swiel adding the extras.
Swiel put Quins in front for the first time in the match with a second penalty with quarter of an hour left and the momentum appeared to be swinging in the visitors’ favour.
But Leinster gathered themselves and following a break by replacement Eoin Reddan, Quins were forced to give away a penalty and Madigan was able to slot the crucial kick.
A late scuffle saw Quins lock Charlie Matthews sent to the sin bin and that killed off the visitors’ hopes of comeback.
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