With Garry Ringrose and Charlie Ngatai back training this week, the centre positions won’t be where Leinster find themselves light come Saturday when Ulster arrive in Dublin. And there’ll be no underestimating the threat from Ulster in the United Rugby Championship quarter-final at the Aviva Stadium given the northern province has already beaten Leinster twice this season and gave as good as they got against Munster at Thomond Past last Saturday before falling away at the end.
Ringrose, who has not played much rugby in recent months, may not wish to rush into a ferocious knockout match without more game time under his belt. It’s a decision for the coaches and Andrew Goodman, at least, was non-committal about the Irish centre’s participation against Ulster, who finished sixth in the URC table.
“There are still a couple of things [Ringrose] needs to tick off through this week,” said Leinster assistant Goodman, who will join the Ireland set-up post season as back’s coach until 2027. “But we have a midfield partnership that has been going pretty well, so we just have to assess what’s best for the 23-man squad.”
“[Ringrose is] obviously a class player, captain of the squad, massive experience, so we would have no problem bringing him back in because of what he has been doing in training – that’s given him and us a lot of confidence.”
In recent weeks the predominant Leinster partnership in the centre has been Jamie Osborne and Robbie Henshaw. Osborne played against Connacht last Friday, while Henshaw did not, although, the pair started against Toulouse in the Champions Cup final two weeks ago.
The match against Connacht was also an end-of-season chance to close a few personal accounts and maybe for Leinster to lift their heads into the Ulster wind and again step up a gear. It is expected that to win they must do that.
“It was important for us as a group to put in a performance [v Connacht] for some of the legends of the club playing their last game at the RDS,” said Goodman. “Rhys [Ruddock] and Ross [Molony] and Ed [Byrne] have had massive impacts on and off the field at the club and to get their standing ovations with the full house was great.
“We had a beer with those guys in the changing-rooms afterwards and with Charlie Ngatai and Michael Ala’alatoa and Jason Jenkins, who are leaving the club as well.”
It may have been an appropriate pause for Goodman and his players, who will have a challenging sequence ahead if they get past Richie Murphy and his reinvigorated Ulster. A likely trip to South Africa for the semi-final follows a win for either team, as the Bulls finished second to Munster in the regular season.
As ever, nobody wants to look beyond this weekend, but there is a pragmatic side to the travelling that requires careful consideration. Several of Leinster’s international players have never played in South Africa.
“We will cross that bridge if and when we get to it. We know Ulster are coming down here and we will be looking to put forward a good performance as well,” said Goodman.
“My experience of interpro games [is that they] have been pretty tight, torrid affairs, so that’s what we are preparing for. The good thing about South Africa is there is no time difference. It’s quite a nice flight really. You get over there, you can sleep on the plane, wake up in the same time zone, little bit warmer, maybe not at this time of the year.
“Again, you have to be smart, you have to be prepared, you have to have a really strong connection between your S&C and medical and your coaching staff.”
Leinster were beaten by a point by Ulster in the RDS Arena on New Year’s Day, with two tries from number 8 Nick Timoney helping the scoreboard along. They lost again last month in Kingspan Stadium, a penalty from the excellent boot of John Cooney in the 78th minute clinching the match for the home side.
Ulster are expected to arrive in a better mood than when they left Limerick at the weekend. And Leinster know it.
“It’s a great challenge,” said Goodman. “All we are focusing on this week is a fired-up Ulster who have beaten us twice, and we have just come off the [European] final defeat, so there is plenty of motivation around.
“There is no complacency or anything. We are full throttle, looking to make sure we get a great performance which is going to lead to an outcome. If we get off to South Africa, we get off to South Africa. We just get into it and what a way to finish the season if we can get it done.”
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