CONNACHT SENIOR COACH Pete Wilkins has urged the province to embrace the challenge of taking on Leinster at the Aviva Stadium this weekend.

Leo Cullen’s squad hold a five-point advantage as the two teams prepare to go head-to-head in the second leg of their Heineken Champions Cup round of 16 tie in Dublin.

Wilkins outlined that for some of the Connacht squad, the game could represent the biggest crowd they’ve ever played in front of, but has backed the team to step up to the occasion following a strong showing at The Sportsground last Friday.

Connacht also have some good memories at the Lansdowne Road venue to lean on, having beaten Ulster 36-11 in a URC clash there back in October.

“There’s a real positive vibe about playing there and getting to play in a really great stadium, but also knowing that we can travel up there and win up there, and against different opposition as well,” Wilkins said.

“There’s confidence and a natural excitement that comes with that. The other side of it is that it will probably be the biggest crowd that some of these guys might have played in front of, compared to those previous games we had at the Aviva. 

So there is a challenge around how you embrace the occasion, rather than let it consume you. That’s a challenge for the guys who might not have been in that environment before, but at the same time, knowing the personalities and the temperament of the lads we’ll be picking this week, I’m pretty confident that they’ll be able to handle that, and it will be a massive energiser for them. 

“There will be a huge contingent up there cheering for Connacht, I have no doubt, but at the same time, there will be a large amount of fans cheering for Leinster and that feeds into your energy. It’s about processing that and using that as an inspiration rather than letting it make you go into your shell. 

“Part of the selection, yes it’s about rugby ability, but it’s about guys that can handle that kind of stage, and we’ll have confidence with the guys that we send up there.”

While Leinster were heavy favourites going into the two-legged tie, Wilkins added that Connacht will take confidence from having troubled a near full strength Leinster team in Galway last week.

Connacht senior coach Pete Wilkins Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

“I think in the past when we’ve beaten Leinster there’s been discussions about what sort of team they’ve had out there, and that they maybe haven’t been fully loaded when we’ve got the results,” Wilkins added.

“There’s been other times where they’ve got leads on us in games and we’ve thrown caution to the wind a bit too early, trying to get the miracle plays to chase down the scoreboard immediately rather than remaining patient with what we’re trying to do and wait for the momentum to swing back in our favour. 

“So I think for us the biggest understanding is, both sides of the ball we can compete with them. The players know that what we practice week-in week-out, and our fundamentals, are good enough.

But the challenge is us delivering that time and time again, phase after phase under enormous pressure. I think we’ve showed that we handled that pretty well. Certainly not perfectly, in terms of some of the tries that they scored and some of the opportunities that we let slip as well, but we’ve got confidence and we got a reassurance of faith from that.

“So we can take that into the second leg and look to build on that.”

On the injury front, Denis Buckley has recovered from the calf injury which saw him miss the first leg, while Tiernan O’Halloran is also training after shipping a knock at The Sportsground on Friday, and Tom Daly is set to return from suspension. With Shane Delahunt the only senior player ruled out, Connacht will also be able to field a strong team as they look to pull of a major upset against the 2018 European champions.

“From an attack point of view I thought we actually showed pretty good patience with the ball (last week), there were times when we might have forced a pass or an off-load in the desperation that we needed to score off that phase,” Wilkins added.

“I thought we showed pretty good patience around that, not perfect but it’s making sure we can remain relentless with that attack, even when we get into situations when the ball might slow down, it’s having the confidence to regenerate momentum and go again. 

“So we don’t have to score off every phase but if we put them under some consistent pressure, we can cause them some problems.” 

In the final episode of the series, The Front Row – The42’s new rugby podcast in partnership with Guinness – welcomes comedian Killian Sundermann in to studio. The online funnyman fills us in on his schools rugby days, gaining recognition during the pandemic, making his stand-up debut and travelling around Europe in a van. Click here to subscribe or listen below:

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