Bonus Points Could Be Crucial Says O’Kelly
Leinster have won two of their three Heineken Cup pool matches to date – but still find themselves down in third place in a pool that will go all the way to the wire and could end up needing the calculators to determine quarter-final qualification.
At the halfway stage, Pool 6 is a straight three-horse race with three-time champions Toulouse on ten points, two-time winners Leicester Tigers on nine points and Leinster on eight – all with two wins in the bank.
Toulouse have pocketed two bonus points and the Tigers one to make all the difference and Leinster lock Malcolm O’Kelly admits the lack of a bonus point in his side’s Round 3 win over Edinburgh may come back to haunt them.
O’Kelly, who is set for his 60th Heineken Cup appearance at Murrayfield on Saturday, said: “We were in a position at half-time to get a bonus point, but we let the foot come off the pedal a bit. All credit to Edinburgh, they hung on and didn’t give up. They made it difficult for us and good luck to them.
“Hopefully we will put in a similar performance next week and try to get a bonus point. It’s a tough pool, and we have to take it one step at a time.”
Heineken man-of-the-match, out-half Felipe Contepomi added: “We’re disappointed we didn’t get the five points. We know that we need to get three wins out of the next three games, starting with Edinburgh away and then Toulouse at home.
“Our forwards are playing brilliantly, but we need to cut out our errors, because Murrayfield next week is a tough place to go. We just have to take this win because in the second half our play was poor and we didn’t deserve a fourth try.”