Ciarán Frawley looks set to continue where he left off in Leinster’s victory over La Rochelle for Saturday’s second Investec Champions Cup match against the Sale Sharks at the Aviva Stadium (5.30).
The Skerries native came on for the unfortunate Harry Byrne who suffered a head injury at the Stade Marcel Deflandre; the latter isn’t available for the game at the weekend as he follows the graduated return to play protocols.
Frawley kicked three penalties, the opening one with his first involvement just short of half-time, and the final one a mighty strike from fully 60 metres. It was far from the sum total of his input. Leinster attack coach Andrew Goodman explained: “He has such a versatile skill set, [his] run, pass, catch and kicking game has grown.
“That’s probably been the most important thing for him this year, that he has been injury-free – touch wood – and he has been training consistently and when you have that you can go out there and perform and that’s what he has been doing.”
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The upshot of Byrne’s injury might see 20-year-old Sam Prendergast included in the match day 23 from where he would be in line to make his Champions Cup debut. Goodman spoke about the legacy that recently retired captain Johnny Sexton left, the manner in which he helped to prime his successors.
“Yeah, it says a huge amount for Johnny for one because they’ve [other outhalves] been able to work with one of the best ever. To see someone like him operate day to day the way he used to, train every day first and foremost, the standards that he used to drive and then his performance every weekend, for those young lads to be able to experience that first hand, well, that’s amazing for them.
“I know they’ve all taken lots from the way he ran the week in terms of the meeting room and the messages he delivered, but also the way he trained and performed on the back of that.
“It’s great to have all those options at 10 competing hard. They work really hard together, they push each other hard, but when the selection calls are made, they make sure they get behind that guy and do what’s best for the team, which is a great thing about them.”
Goodman said that he does see some of Sexton’s traits in the ‘new generation’.
“Yeah, they’re always themselves but there’s little bits you can see, ‘yeah, that’s the way Johnny would have done that’ or he would have delivered the message the same way. So, they would have all picked up things from him, but they’ve all developed their own way of doing it as well, which is great and which is what you want, you want them to be themselves.”
Goodman said that there wasn’t a deep dive on the attacking side of Leinster’s game in La Rochelle, given the way that the match panned out, but there were nuggets to take forward.
“From the attack side of stuff not too much but there is a lot of detail around the dark crafts, around the carry-and-clean and the pick-and-goes and little techniques there [that] you can do better.
“There are a lot of learnings about playing in rain and wind that we need to keep having conversations around because over the next month or six weeks there could be another game that we have similar conditions.
“It was a good discussion with players this morning, chatting with individuals around things that we have done better; kicking variations and things like that, that if we get those conditions again, we will be ready for [them].”
Saturday’s opponents Sale Sharks are top of the Gallagher Premiership and beat Stade Francais in their opening game, but have lost heavily twice away in their domestic league. Goodman said: “I had a really close look at the Harlequins game. They used the ball well, Harlequins, so we picked a few things up from that game.
“The overriding thing from that game is they [Sale] have a clear DNA in how they want to play the game; a strong set-piece, scrum and lineout, and they kick extremely well. They’ve a really good plan off the back of their kicking, whether it’s contestable or long, so [George] Ford does that really well.
“He organises their game, he’s one guy we’re going to have to put pressure on, to make sure we take his time and space away. It’s going to be a massive battle for our pack to try and nullify what they try to do with their set-piece.”
Leinster will await a definitive medical evaluation on Jack Conan and Tadhg Furlong, both of whom were ruled out of the game with La Rochelle. The official line is that both will be “assessed later in the week ahead of selection”.
Prop Michael Milne has returned to full training while Tommy O’Brien (ankle) and scrumhalf Luke McGrath (knee) are nearing a return following injury. There was some bad news for scrumhalf Cormac Foley who suffered a shoulder injury in training and as a result had a surgical procedure. He will be sidelined for the “next few months” according to the medical bulletin.
There is no update regarding outhalf Ross Byrne (bicep), utility back Jamie Osborne (shoulder) and hooker John McKee (hamstring).
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