Loose talk of Toulouse off topic for fully focused Leinster

Michael Glennon Michael Glennon | 05-16 16:15

Loose talk, like talk of Toulouse, is not welcome in the Leinster camp this week.

Questions are entertained but answers are short shrift.

No, Cian Healy did not watch Toulouse handing erstwhile Top 14 leaders Stade Francais a 49-18 hammering on Sunday evening.

Toulouse boss Ugo Mola picked six of the starters from their semi-final win over Harlequins, while Francois Cros, Peato Mauvaka and Emmanuel Meafou came off the bench.

Antoine Dupont was an unused substitute, while Blair Kinghorn, Paul Costes and Romain Ntamack were all rested as the five-time European champions moved top of the French league.

"I'll look at that game at some point during the week, next week," he adds.

Leinster beat the French outfit in the last two seasons in Dublin at the semi-final stage; relatively speaking, both victories, 40-17 and 41-22, were straightforward wins.

Surely Healy is expecting a different proposition when the teams meet in London on Saturday week?

"I expect Ulster to be very strong this weekend and that’s what I’m preparing for."

After last season’s BTK URC semi-final defeat to Munster at the Aviva Stadium, no one can blame Leinster for recalibrating their approach to the final stretch.

They ended up trophyless, while Munster lifted silverware in Cape Town.

Cian Healy (l) after Leinster's loss to Munster in last season's URC semi-final

"We will screw up our whole league campaign if we focus on next week," said Healy, who recently signed on for another year with Leinster and is on course to become the province’s most capped player if he plays six times more to beat Devin Toner’s 280, while he’s just five short of taking Brian O’Driscoll’s record (133) for Irish caps.

"We do well in the early part of the season day-by-day, week-by-week and there’s no reason to vary off that just because it’s the business end of the season."

To demonstrate how hard it is to fight on two fronts, the tale of the tape shows that Leinster have only once done the double, that coming back in 2018.

Asked what went right in that season, he said: "We probably learned from the earlier European wins [2009, 2011, 2012] - how we completely screwed up the following week by celebrating too hard and what-not.

"Luck comes in, planning comes in, lots of stuff comes in.

Joey Carbery celebrates with Cian Healy (r) after the 2018 win over Racing 92

"It’s about staying focused and how you get yourself around the intention to win both competitions."

It’s not easy but Healy believes the squad’s approach will serve them well as they look for a first trophy since 2021.

"Everyone is extremely motivated, for one, and excited for the opportunity," he says.

"There’s no place we would rather be. This is what we strive to do. As a club we know how hard it is. Not just URC and European but same with the Top14 and Premiership. It’s hard for everyone.

"We are in a position now where we have 38-40 players competing for spots and [who] can do a job for us over the next couple of weeks.

"This is a big game for us this week in terms of our position in the URC.

"When you think of all the habits we are trying to build in the games and in games on Saturdays, that will put us in good stead for the following week as well."

So next week's Investec Champions Cup final is off limits but life after rugby, when it comes, is something the Dubliner (above) has been thinking of.

Could he do a Johnny Sexton and make a clean getaway or give something back to the next generation?

"It’s starting to appeal to me a bit," he said when asked about a move into coaching.

"There have been a couple of times over the last while in Irish camp and with Leinster where I have been able to fix issues when it’s not necessarily me in there.

"Probably being in this bench role has allowed me to see more of what goes on and how I look at things. The problem-solving of it, I have enjoyed that and it’s worked for the most part.

"[Teaching younger props] is the bit I think I’m doing all right at. All the rest of it, how you manage seasons of coaching and what drives you when you are not togging out at the weekend, how you do all that and where the stimulation comes from.

"I’ve talked to Fogs [John Fogarty, Ireland scrum coach] and he’s given me some really good answers on that sort of stuff."

Cian Healy in action against Ulster on New Year's Day

Healy prefers to track back to Saturday's URC trip to Belfast and feels that there is a sense that Leinster owe Ulster one after the visitors claimed a 22-21 victory at the RDS at the start of the year.

"They exposed us in quite a few areas in that game," said Healy.

"It’s up to us as forwards to front up in the tight trenches to release our backs and let them play.

"It’s a tough challenge. Ulster are going well. So it’s pretty full steam ahead in here."


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