Last season you would’ve bet your house on a Leinster team with a 14-0 lead at any stage of the match.
Only thing is, I’m not sure we ever had such a lead last year, since to do so we’d have to score a try.
When Ian Madigan crossed for our bonus-securing try at the death, it was our 6th touchdown of the season in only our second game. A year ago it took us till the 38th minute of our 6th game up in Ravenhill for Shaun Berne to cross for number 6.
So that begs the question : has Joe Schmidt brought the tries with him from Clermont? On yesterday’s evidence at our home opener, it really looked like it, especially after Nacewa crossed for our second on eight minutes to add to Jennings’ opener.
But of course such an addition to our repertoire can’t come without it’s drawbacks. For the second week in a row we threw away that early lead, and also for the second week in a row, the lead was lost mostly due to mistakes on our part.
This week’s Leinster brainfart wasn’t quite as costly as Fogarty’s, when Shaggy looked bemused and stood his ground despite the ref telling him to move in the ruck. Still, you can’t give soft chances like that to Dan Parks and it settled the visitors by getting their side of the scoreboard moving.
But we went in at the break with the fourteen-point advantage restored, and my only concern was our ability to retain possession when we had it. Guess what – before I could say I told you so in the second half, we’d coughed up the ball twice the in the opposition 22 for the Blues (who were masquerading as the Pinks) to counter attack both times for scores. Another Parks pen followed and the home crowd was shell shocked into thinking it was going to be a long, long campaign.
All we needed to do was hold on to the frickin ball! I’ve never seen the one team lose it in contact so often! Clearly that’s a by-product of the Schmidt-inspired brand of offloading which, while devastating when it works, needs a few more matches before it’s perfected throughout the squad.
Despite our handling errors, we deserved to win this game, as we dominated at virtually every position.
What can you say about Isa Nacewa. Well on this showing, I say “Superman”. Catching, kicking, running, tackling, he delivered at least one highlight-reel moment in every department, and well deserved man of the match.
He was ably supported by a Luke Fitzgerald with mojo restored, a display from Ian Madigan beyond his years given the situation Jonny10’s injury foisted upon him, and in the forwards, a second strong outing in a row from Richardt Strauss at hooker which for me puts him ahead of Fogs in our pecking order.
And even though I was part of it, I’d like to think the almost 16,000-strong RDS crowd helped us pressure the Cardiff line in the final quarter and keep the ball when it counted to first nudge ahead thanks to Fads after a super crash ball/offload by Healy, and finally clinch the 5 Magners League points thanks to Madigan selling the Blues defence a wonderful dummy and surging through the space before him.
That final 15 minute spell gave the Leinster faithful the sense they were looking for – that they still have the stuff necessary to produce the goods, though this time, goods of the try-scoring variety. Long may it continue – I’d take a 34-23 bonus-point win over an 18-12 kickfest any week.
