When we lost to the Scarlets way back on opening day, we could’ve blamed the Lions Tour.
When we lost to the Dragons and the Warriors, we could’ve blamed the fact we sent over our Academy team. When we lost to Ulster, we could’ve blamed the weather. When we lost to Connacht, we could’ve blamed the scheduling.
In each case we didn’t make those excuses, nor should we have, I’m just saying we COULD have.
Let’s be perfectly clear. On Saturday evening in the RDS, Leinster were comprehensively beaten by an Ospreys side that put in a performance that was structured, clinical, and comprehensive. And they were rightly rewarded as Champions in the Magners League’s first ever Grand Final.
They employed the same tactics as Clermont and Edinburgh had recently done, ie keep us pinned in our own half and establish an early lead then rely on defence to see it home, only the Welshmen were the first to carry it through to the final whistle.
Ultimately it was our biggest liability throughout the season, ie our low try-scoring count, that cost us dear. When sides have squared up defensively the way we have done so many times ourselves in recent times, we haven’t been able to find the combinations no matter who we had on the park.
Naturally it was a disappointment, especially when Cheika, O’Kelly, Demspey & van der Linde were coming to the end of their current involvement with Leinster rugby. Though it should be said, I haven't seen a more polished display from Big Mal in the last two seasons, particularly in the lineout.
So when the dust has settled, we must take stock of what the 2009/10 season has brought. Well, no trophies for a start, but perhaps there’s a silver lining there? Did the dizzy heights of the previous campaign fill us with a notion that we were somehow entitled to silverware whatever the other nations did?
And though it’s hardly a consolation, I guess there is a crumb of comfort in the fact that in the last 12 months Leinster rugby has once and for all consigned the “Ladyboys” jibes to the annals of history. Our southern cousins had set the mark in our one-on-one battles, and we showed we could meet it. Of course the tide will flow back the other way in the future, but at least we have shown we have the ability to dominate.
As for next season? Well, it’s going to be all change in the Leinster camp. A new head coach in Joe Schmidt, who as Clermont’s backs coach has proven that it is possible to be a league’s top try-scorers AND be its champion, not to mention the prospect of new signings-even Luke Fitzgerald will seem like one!
PLUS there’s the small matter of the World Cup squad to be assembled, so it pretty much goes without saying there’s fascinating times ahead.
But back to Saturday night, when the final whistle blew, my mates and I went and shook as many travelling fans’ hands as we could and hoped they enjoyed their stay in the Irish capital. Their boys certainly did them proud, albeit with the help of an Irishman ;-) JLP
