FALLING SHORT
One moment more than any other summed up Leinster’s performance in Toulouse, that being Eoin Reddan going all butterfingers as he went to put the ball down for what surely would’ve been a match-changing try in the first half.
As I’ve said before in Heineken Cup reviews this season, we’ve been riding our luck in this competition to date and this was always going to be the battle where we couldn’t rely on fortune and instead we’d have to bring the kind of “A game” that we had at Croke Park 12 months earlier.
Alas it wasn’t to be. Toulouse may not have been the powerhouses the pre-game buildup suggested, but they certainly set a standard we found ourselves unable to match on the day. Jauzion and Skrela were able to be clinical at just the right moment unlike our equally famous names.
In my mind’s eye before this kicked off, I had a vision whereby they ran in two or three tries in quick succession, but for me it was always in the first twenty minutes. When we had them at 9-9 at half-time, I was beyond optimistic that we could pull it off.
But if Reddan’s fumble summed up our performance offensively, another moment defined our failures in defence, and the finger of blame can only point towards one man, CJ Van Der Liability.
Since when do the words “ROLL AWAY” make you think you’re meant to “lie there like a sack of spuds?” It wasn’t the only senseless penalty we gave away by a long chalk, but it was clearly the most frustrating to watch.
In all honesty, if we hadn’t continued to virtually invite them into our own 22, I’m not altogether sure they would have scored any tries on the day, despite their domination in the scrum.
Yet it wasn’t all negative. First, there was Shaun Berne. Surely even he would admit Jonny10 would have provided us with more fizz going forward, but the Australian did exactly what could have been expected of him and then some. The best compliment you can give him is that in no way did the Sexton injury result in the defeat.
Then there was our attitude when their second try was scored. Many would have thrown in the towel, but we managed to dig deep and throw the kitchen sink at them like the reigning European Champions that we were, and we were rewarded with a superb fling by Nacewa to Heaslip for a touchdown that at very least gave us some hope going into the closing stages.
But again a mind-numbing transgression on our part restored the two-score margin and that was a bridge too far.
Can we blame Michael Cheika? Maybe we can say he failed to instil the required match-winning attitude before kick-off. Maybe we can say it was a mistake to bring on the South African prop when despite his injuries he has failed to ever show anything resembling dedication in a blue jersey. Maybe we can say our coach is winding down in anticipation of his next assignment.
They may all be valid points, but there is also one over-riding factor to consider…the Heineken Cup is a huge competition and NOBODY has a God-given right to win it. The record of the Irish provinces has been superb over the years and getting half the semifinalists I reckon our boys have done us proud yet again this time round.
Let’s face it, both Leinster AND Munster were always going to be up against it playing on foreign soil, and although we lost by 10 and they by 11, neither of us need be ashamed.
And now at very least we can both focus on the end of the Magners League campaign. Some fascinating battles next weekend to round out the Final Four, then the competition’s first ever playoff series.
Here’s hoping Leinster can bring the motivation that led to Heaslip’s try into the weeks ahead.
