Team sport often comes down to a series of individual tussles within the framework of a match. Rugby is no different and at its core is often a duel for primacy at the breakdown between the respective number sevens.
It’s a slightly one dimensional argument as there are others involved and indeed required but it is the openside flanker who often provides the beachhead at this point of contact, capable of speeding up or slowing down possession as the occasion demands. Turnovers, penalties; there is rich plunder available.
These days the inhabitants of the jersey come in all shapes and sizes but on Sunday at the Stade Felix Mayol where Toulon host Leinster in a Heineken Cup quarter-final there is scope, depending on selection, for two excellent proponents of the orthodox style in Shane Jennings (Leinster) and Steffon Armitage (Toulon).
The pair have collided on many occasions in the past as Jennings recounted: “Playing against him in England – he was with London Irish – he’s very good over the ball. If he’s at seven he gets a bit more opportunity to do that. If he’s at eight, he’s a very good ball carrier. He’s low to the ground, a block of a man.
"He's dangerous in attack and defence. He is someone we really have to watch. Unfortunately, it is not just one of them. There are about six of them you could probably pick in the backrow that are just as good as each other. It is a massive challenge for us. It is something we're all looking forward to because it's somewhere I've never been before and against a team like that, it's massive."
Depth of quality
Given the sheer depth of quality of the Toulon squad and their facility for mixing and matching it makes it marginally more difficult to second guess the composition of their team. Leinster will therefore focus inwards for most of this week.
Jennings explained: “Yeah, there is an element of that alright. I haven’t seen too many of their games, to be honest, to see if there is a pattern of picking certain players for certain games but they do have a lot of options.
"I think, generally, we have a fair idea of what their tight-five is going to be. I'm pretty sure Juan Smith will play as well, you know. They've just got such class players. There is a massive element of, 'we can't control that,' so we will most certainly look after what we can do, recover well, prepare well and actually enjoy the week.
“We’ve been here before. We’ve enjoyed those weeks when there are big games. It is a great week for the club. We want to have another one of these. We all know you enjoy it when you’re winning. We understand the stakes.”
The nature of the contest against Munster offered a decent stepping off point. Jennings spoke of the sore bodies, aches that lingered through the weekend, underlining the ferocity of the physical exchanges. Without last Saturday's game there was a danger that through no particular fault other than the fixture schedule some Leinster players might have gone in a little undercooked.
He admitted: "For people like me who weren't involved in the Six Nations, three week breaks playing against an understrength Zebre is probably not ideal preparation so it was great for us to get a hit out like that.
Fuel in the tank
"I was certainly feeling in and around 60-65 minutes whereas I was looking at Paulie (O'Connell), Jamie (Heaslip) as well, they had that fuel in the tank; Dev (Toner) too. They are lads who have come through a lot of tough games. It (Munster match) has been very good for us.
“In terms of a stepping stone it was a good start but I don’t think anything would really prepare you for what we are going into. We are very happy that some of the stuff that we tried to do pattern wise, paid off.
“We held onto the ball better in the second half, which we didn’t do in the first half.
"These guys (Toulon) are very dangerous, scored a lot of points at the weekend (beat Toulouse) and you can see over the last number of years that they have been there or thereabouts in the Top 14. You don't do that by not being a good attacking team as well as a good defensive team. I think I heard Birch (Bernard Jackman) say that their defence was the best in France. It's a tight pitch apparently so it is going to be very difficult."
Clean bill of health
Leinster assistant coach, Richie Murphy, has confirmed a clean bill of health for the province as they prepare for Sunday's quarter-final.
Cian Healy, Jack McGrath, Martin Moore, Rhys Ruddock and Dave Kearney, all of whom missed Saturday’s victory over Munster arising from a variety of injury concerns will be available for selection.
Murphy explained: “The injury profile is pretty good actually. There are a few lads on modified training load this week but the three props that missed the game at the weekend are all ready to play. Rhys (Ruddock) is back out training and ready to go.
“He was probably fit and ready to go come (last) Saturday but it wasn’t worth risking it at that stage. Dave Kearney is returning from that bit of a knock he took in training last week and again he should be ready to go this week. Brian O’Driscoll came off with a knock to his neck/shoulder area. He should be fine as well.”
When asked whether O’Driscoll might have also sustained a head injury, Murphy was adamant: “No, there’s no head injury. We’re obviously going to manage him. We are still within that 48 hours post-game period so we just want to rest him.”
The Leinster and Ireland centre did not train yesterday but is expected to do so today.
