Gaffney rolls out Leinster big guns

TWO of the best judges of how the Scottish teams rate on the eve of the 2008-9 Heineken Cup kick-off are in the opposing camps this weekends.

Alan Gaffney has become one of the most respected coaches in the UK, an Australian who played a key role in developing Munster into the Heineken Cup champions they have now been on two occasions. He steered Saracens into the European Challenge Cup semi-finals and, last season, the Heineken Cup semi-finals – both times beating Glasgow en route.

Gaffney is now back in Ireland, assisting Leinster's head coach Michael Cheika, a former player of his back in Randwick, and working with Declan Kidney and the Ireland national squad. Tomorrow afternoon, he will be at Murrayfield to help Leinster take revenge for having last season's Heineken Cup hopes fatally wounded at the same ground.

Paul Turner, the Newport Gwent Dragons coach, welcomes Glasgow back to Rodney Parade tomorrow afternoon, having lost to the Scots on the last two league clashes at the Newport ground, the most recent being the opening game of this Magners League season.

Turner has spent the summer shopping in the southern hemisphere, crossing paths with Glasgow's Sean Lineen more than once, and the "poor region" of Wales' current four believe they are now well-placed to cause surprises in the Heineken Cup.

Both Edinburgh and Leinster will hope the Heineken Cup sparks a lift in their performances in recent weeks, Leinster having lost successive Magners derbies to Munster and Connacht. Their record at Murrayfield is wretched – nine games, eight defeats – and the last meeting in this competition resulted in a commanding 29-10 win for the home side.

After warming expectations by beating Wasps and Bath in pre-season, Edinburgh have lost four of their first five league games.

Leinster name their side today, but are expected to have their big signings Rocky Elsom, the Wallaby flanker, and Springbok tighthead prop CJ van der Linde starting, alongside Puma Felipe Contepomi, and Brian O'Driscoll, Girvan Dempsey, Jamie Heaslip, Bernard Jackman, Shane Jennings and Malcolm O'Kelly, the players rested last week. Gaffney has every reason to feel that that quality of side not only open with victory this weekend but challenge the elite in Europe this season.

He acknowledged: "We have a good squad and the management have brought in very good players, so there's nothing to say we can't achieve our aspirations. Winning the Heineken Cup and Magners League are the dream goals, but it's about going out there and getting the performance right and then getting the result, and then building on it.

"The Scottish teams have not brought in so many overseas players this year, but that's not such a bad thing and even though we beat them well at home last month, we will certainly not underestimate them.

"I know Glasgow better than Edinburgh because, with Saracens, I faced them five times in the past two years. When I look back over those games we qualified for the Challenge Cup and Heineken Cup quarters on the strength of wins over Glasgow, but all four games could have gone either way."

Glasgow head south to Newport with a Parks-controlled victory in a Newport monsoon fresh in the memory, but a strengthened Dragons side have recovered from that, and a roasting at Munster, to beat Ulster, Edinburgh and Newcastle in recent weeks, the latter in the EDF Cup.

A tightening of the wage structure at Rodney Parade – Turner has cut some of what he termed the "over-inflated middle tier" salaries – has enabled the former Gloucester and Harlequins coach to bring in Kiwis Hoani McDonald from the Highlanders, Tom Willis, the ex-Chiefs and All Black captain, and James Arlidge from Auckland via Japan, as well as Australian Rory Sidey.

Turner said: "I've not signed Superman, but by changing some things at the club we have strengthened the squad. Now I hope we can start creeping up on the rest this season.

"But that goes for the Scots as well. They're in a similar position to us financially, so it's tough to compete, but, with the Borders going, Glasgow and Edinburgh are virtually Scotland A and B; they have good signings, are maturing and the players are noticeably less over-awed playing away from home."

Captains united in belief

SCOTTISH clubs have stepped into the intense atmosphere of European rugby with better results and greater confidence behind them, but both Mike Blair and Alastair Kellock believe their teams are as well-placed as at any time in the past to take on the continent's best sides and reach the quarter-finals.

Both clubs have been strengthened in the summer, and both finished last season strongly, having taken confidence from improved European campaigns in which players and coaches said they felt the teams had grown in stature and learned significant lessons. Chief among them is to win your home games and the respective team captains are clear on that point this week.

Blair, the Edinburgh captain, said: "It (Heineken Cup] can help to change the focus or freshen you up – the league table starts at 0-0 essentially this weekend and it's an opportunity for us not to forget the Magners League entirely because we have produced some good rugby in the games so far, but, yes, to change the focus.

"Castres haven't got off to a good start in the French league, Wasps have struggled in England, Leinster lost to Connacht and our results haven't been what we wanted, but the rot will stop for some this weekend, and we have to make sure it does for us.

"It's helpful starting at home, but that also brings pressure. Everyone knows that if you lose at home then it's very difficult to qualify for the quarter-finals. Simply, we have to play at the top of our game and maintain Leinster's bad record here and then go to Castres feeling confident."

Glasgow lost to Munster last week at the opening of the new Thomond Park Stadium, but after throwing away a third-minute try, they fought back to make it very close at the end.

"The biggest negative was that we came out of the game with nothing at all," said skipper Kellock, "though maybe it was a positive to go to the Heineken Cup champions and deserve at least a bonus point."