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LONG READ 'Leinster are almost in McIlroy at the Masters territory'

'Leinster are almost in McIlroy at the Masters territory'
1 week ago

I’ve no idea what Leo Cullen’s wildest dreams consist of or, indeed, whether rugby balls feature in any of them. Perhaps best not to go there. But if you’d asked him back in August to draw a diagram of where he’d have wanted his team to be come the semi-finals of the Holy Grail, you suspect his picture would’ve resembled something spookily similar to what he’s looking at right now. The blue stars appear to be aligning.

It was so close to being the perfect Champions Cup quarter-final weekend for Leinster supporters. Glasgow Warriors went in the blender on Friday and Northampton Saints’ towelling of Castres Olympique on Saturday means the body returns to the scene of the crime in the semis, but had RC Toulon dispatched Stade Toulousain on Sunday, you suspect the bunting would have been in full bloom at the Leinster training ground this week.

Look, two out of three ain’t bad but the fly in the Irish ointment is the defending champions are still standing. Arguably, it’s the one nagging doubt that remains.

Leinster steamrolled a depleted Glasgow Warriors side to continue their march towards the peak of Europe (Photo By Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Are Leinster better than Ireland? This was the delicious yet impenetrable paradox of theoretical superposition posed by Harlequins and the BBC’s Danny Care last week. Effectively, could Leinster beat themselves; one for the quantum physicists to mull over the next time they’re in the tap room.

Answering his own question – in truth, more of an honest compliment than a question – DC himself was certain they are and he may very well be right; put it this way, they’re definitely better than Harlequins or Glasgow Warriors.

In their past five halves of Champions Cup rugby, Leinster have rattled up 142 unanswered points. Again, you can debate this long into the night but the word ‘unanswered’ is arguably more of a jaw-dropper than the ridiculous number. Essentially, under the Jacques Nienaber umbrella, they attack as effectively without the ball as they do with it, which is saying something.

It’s the barrister’s old maxim: ‘whether you’re defending or prosecuting, always assume that you’re prosecuting’ and, certainly, a squirming Glasgow Warriors had no answers to a barrage of ruthless questioning.

In the rubble of a ruck, amid jumbles of players and disjointed patterns wider out and behind, Gibson-Park’s immediate instinct for the clear-cut opportunity is almost other-worldly.

“It’s the first time we’ve been completely bullied in every part of the game,” said a rueful Franco Smith in the aftermath.

Jordie Barrett epitomised Leinster’s excellence, at once the most creative and the most destructive presence on the pitch. I’ve no idea how much Leinster shelled out for his services but, when they’re shrewdly spent, even untold riches can look like a bargain. And that’s before you factor in the intangibles; the nous, the rugby IP and the sheer unflappable Barrett-ness of the bloke. He’s given Leinster another – potentially decisive – dimension.

But the dynamo – and how often have we said this? – is Jamison Gibson-Park. The skillset – not least his kicking game – is nigh-on flawless but his ability to scan, process and execute, all, seemingly, in the blink of an eye is what sets him and Leinster apart. It’s speed chess.

In the rubble of a ruck, amid jumbles of players and disjointed patterns wider out and behind, Gibson-Park’s immediate instinct for the clear-cut opportunity is almost other-worldly. In a sport defined by the quality of decisions made under pressure, he is almost without equal.

Lithe scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park sets the tone for Leinster, with and without the ball (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

So, add it all up and, understandably, the Leinster hype train is building up a sizeable head of steam as the pundits and the poets of the press box heave yet more coke into the fire-box. ‘This year feels different… they’re the clear favourites… they’re a different animal’ – all of which could be true, sounds true and might yet prove to be true. But the worst thing Leinster could do right now is believe their own publicity. Flattery, as they say, is fine assuming you don’t inhale.

Take last Friday night in Dublin. Glasgow Warriors were missing – arguably – their five brightest lights and – oddly, bafflingly – plumped for a trench warfare battle-plan against the stoutest defence in Europe. Yes, Leinster were almost imperious but that ain’t a serious measuring stick. Cuter, sharper and weightier conundrums await. That said, the bookmakers are shortening Leinster’s odds by the week; 17/10 after the group stage, 13/10 after the first knockout round, they’re now 4/6 on. And with good reason.

Northampton Saints, in the words of Henry Pollock, are promising to ‘put up a fight’ in the Dublin semi-final which, you sense, is a public ploy to reinforce the underdog narrative. Certainly, you hope that’s what it is; smacking Leinster on the nose is all well and good but England’s last hope need to lay them flat out on the canvas or, at the very least, outpoint them over the full twelve rounds.

Northampton are certainly nimble enough, they’ve combination shots aplenty, they’ve no Premiership pressures to distract them and they’ve last year’s grudge tucked away in their socks. But, metaphorically speaking, attack coach Sam Vesty will need to come up with a couple of horseshoes to stuff in his team’s gloves.

Bordeaux are fast but they’re way too loose; what’s more this ‘you-score-four-tries-and-we’ll-score-six’ mantra may be a joy to watch but it rarely wins you finals. Or even gets you to finals.

Yet even as rank underdogs – they’re a staggering 33/1 for the pot in a four-horse race – Northampton remain dangerous. Last year’s semi-final was a squeak and this year, like Leinster, they appear to have grown in confidence and chutzpah. Yes, they’ve lost one George – Hendy – but they’ve gained another – Furbank – who made a stellar return to the team against Castres. And whatever your thoughts on Pollock, that youthful – almost cavalier, almost cocky – can-do energy can be highly infectious.

But, assuming the bookmakers are right and Leinster prevail, that leaves who in the final? Bordeaux-Begles? On the front foot they’re an ice cream of a team but on the back foot, there’s a touch of last week’s meatloaf about them. Munster played only in second-half spasms in Saturday’s quarter-final but it was still left to the mighty Maxime Lucu – in a frantic, final five minutes – to bail out his team at one end and set up the deal-sealing score at the other. They’re fast but they’re way too loose; what’s more this ‘you-score-four-tries-and-we’ll-score-six’ mantra may be a joy to watch but it rarely wins you finals. Or even gets you to finals.

Their discipline’s also a concern, allied to their clarity of thinking. On a stern warning for repeated infringements at the end of the first half, they had a full, 15-minute break to calm down and reset. They then came out for the second half and gave away three cheap penalties in the space of five minutes. Bin; frankly, for stupidity if nothing else. It’s small stuff, but it’s the small stuff that makes the difference. There’s a reason streetwise teams win Champions Cup titles.

Which segues neatly into Stade Toulousain who, when asked the clutch, quarter-final question: ‘how on earth do you win away against a team which never loses at home?’ came up with a stunning riposte and one which was far more emphatic than the scoreline suggested. Even without their Top Trump, they had far too many cards for RC Toulon, not least the ambition to actually play them in the flogging rain. In a tournament which has been long on candyfloss wins, here was the kind of statement by which champions are defined.

Toulouse Toulon
Toulouse players celebrate after Thomas Ramos kicked them into the Champions Cup semi-finals at Stade Felix Mayol (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Last week, Toulon ran in 10 tries against Saracens; this week they came up with the square root of none and were lucky to score that. It’s not just Leinster who know how to defend their doorstep.

Manny Meafou was a totem pole – in a land of giants, he still looked like Gulliver in Lilliput – the outstanding Alexandre Roumat wasn’t far behind and Anthony Jelonch put in a game-turning shift off the bench. Arguably, they’ve the best pack of forwards in Europe and given the back division isn’t exactly gun-shy, they’re a deadly serious proposition despite being forced to win the thing on the road without their chief navigator. And if they do, it’ll be one of the greatest Champions Cup achievements.

Nine points down on the scoreboard, they held their nerve. Thomas Ramos – go figure – kicked like a drain all day yet nailed the game-winning shot. Twice they ‘scored’, twice they were – rightly – denied by the TMO, yet they regathered themselves to score twice more. Tactically, they were spot on in what Shaun Edwards calls ‘the championship minutes’ and all of this in one of the most hostile, febrile environments in world rugby. It was hugely impressive.

You don’t need to be an astrologer to sense where this year’s Champions Cup looks to be heading and, from a neutral perspective, fingers crossed we get there, not least because it then becomes a question of mind over matter. Yes, Leinster are purring; yes, they’re injury-free; yes, they’ve a squad of outstanding players scrapping for places. Yet this team has serious scar tissue. It hasn’t won a damn thing in four years. And as much as this tournament has, thus far, run on well-oiled, blue rails, Stade Toulousain, if they get there, would the very last team they’d want to be facing.

For all Leinster’s dustings of denuded Scots and flaky English, the best French sides are different gravy

Because for all Leinster’s dustings of denuded Scots and flaky English, the best French sides are different gravy. In the pool stage, they edged past Clermont Auvergne 15-7; they dug out an heroic 14-16 win at Stade Rochelais but only after Antoine Hastoy rattled the woodwork with a last-minute penalty. Their hard work got them into the fluffier side of the knockout draw but France’s finest, in some form or another, await in the final. And we all know how that’s worked out in recent years. Let’s not go there.

The analogy is far from a glove-fit but Leinster are almost in ‘McIlroy at the Masters’ territory; on the one hand, thwarted dreams, recurring heartache and lingering doubts but, in the here and now, a blistering run of recent form, a reshaped, Rotella-esque mindset and, you sense, the resilience and sheer bloody-mindedness not to come up short yet again.

If Leinster can unlock their inner ‘Rory’, not even the likes of Stade Toulousain will be able to deny them.

But for all their unquestioned brilliance, it remains a niggling ‘if’.

Comments

2 Comments
I
IkeaBoy 9 days ago

Leinster's short game is much better, surely?

S
SM 9 days ago

Insightful and entertaining commentary from someone who knows what he is talking about. Keep ‘em coming please Graham.

S
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