[Update Dec 18 2013] Archive time here at HoR…this Friday Leinster visit the seething cauldron that is Murrayfield for Edinburgh’s Pro12 matches. You wouldn’t know it by the gloomy press since last Saturday, but Leinster are actually better off in both competitions now than we were this time last year. Although we had beaten Connacht 17-0 in the previous match, I reckon it was this victory in the Scottish capital that truly signalled the start of our march to that impressive end-of-season silverware spree. JLP
Brian O'Driscoll, Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald are names you'd be hard pressed to leave out of any lineup in world rugby. So it kind of goes without saying that ringing in the new year by adding them to your starting XV is always going to give your team a boost.
You won't have to tell Joe Schmidt, however, that his Leinster team needed a bit more than that trio of Lions togging out to motivate them for this match. And it's not as though the motivation was going to come from less than 4,000 bums spread across over 67,000 Murrayfield seats either, despite the best efforts of the travelling faithful from Dublin Airport.
Leinster's chances of progressing in the Heineken Cup are slim, but if we get maximum points from our final two pool matches we will give ourselves every opportunity. Thing is though...with only three tries from our four matches to date, and two of those against a Clermont side who had already secured victory, it was clear that it would take more than three returning stars to make it possible.
What was needed in the camp was to view the 2012/13 campaign as a whole a bit like the 2011 Heineken Cup final. Think of New Year's Day as halftime in the Millennium Stadium dressing room, when to all intents and purposes it seemed like our chances of winning the trophy were dead and buried.
Maybe it was another inspirational speech from Johnny Sexton, maybe it came from elsewhere, but right from the very kickoff you could see a spring in Leinster's step very similar to that which started the second half in Cardiff that day. Sure the match wasn't even a minute old when Gordon D'Arcy was charging through the home defences, starting off yet another in a string of fine displays which must surely put him somewhere in the Lions reckoning.
Then on the 9th minute, Leinster won a penalty in an extremely kickable position. Turn the clock back just a few weeks and I would have been seething had Sexton been instructed to kick to touch. “Oh for the love of all that's holy, you're the away team, just jolly well take the three points on offer my good man!” is absolutely nothing like what I'd have been shouting, but the sentiment would be similar.
But in this perfectly imperfect sport that is rugby union, we have to remember that context is EVERYthing. Sure, Leinster's immediate task may have been to secure the points on the Pro12 table, but there was also the need to show that they could play in such a way that four tries were gettable. And so the kick was spurned and the ball put into touch, with nary a peep from this blogger.
Of course no matter what change of attitude the Leinster squad may have, that doesn't mean the floodgates will suddenly open for them, and for the first half an hour, chance after chance went a-begging, sometimes thanks to good defence by the home side, sometimes thanks to knock-ons and wayward darts, sometimes thanks to referee Ian Davies being unable to make up his mind what he wanted from the two packs at scrum-time.
Still, I wasn't too downhearted by the sight of Greig Laidlaw's 16th-minute penalty sailing between the uprights giving the home side the lead against the run of play. Nor was I downhearted by Sexton going for the “high-risk restart” I've been bemoaning so much this season, especially as it came off and we were soon right back in Edinburgh's faces.
Then came Allan Jacobsen's “tackle” on O'Driscoll. I found a good picture of it on the web and posted it on the Facebook page, but while going by the photo you could say “it looks bad but probably isn't” you must once more consider the context. Leinster were well on the front foot and as Clermont and Ulster both showed in December, it's important to take the wind out of our sails once we get into your 22. BOD had already jinked his way past both Ben Atiga and WP Nel, all in plain sight of Jacobsen, who isn't exactly the most nimble of specimens. The Scots international prop is, however, more about the “canny” than the “cannae” so he was never going to let the Irish skipper get past him.
Was it a cynical attempt to injure a player? No. But it was definitely a tackle that was both reckless and dangerous and the assistant ref most certainly bottled it by not recommending a yellow. Still, it wasn't to be and at least we got the pen AND took the right decision to level the scores with a view to continuing the pressure, which we duly did, and finally on 33 minutes, that pressure paid off.
Awarding a penalty try without prior warning seems to be all the rage these days, so it was good to see Leinster being on the right end of it this time. Was it harsh to send Denton to the bin as well? Maybe, but even without the blue goggles you have to admit it's a proper interpretation of the laws – once it's seen as a deliberate attempt to stop a certain try, surely the ref has no choice.
This gave Leinster the extra man so given we were already in the ascendancy, in many ways D'Arcy's try which followed was inevitable, but although it was something of a routine move with the ball quickly spread out wide creating the space, special mention has to go to Cian Healy for his “miss pass” to his inside centre that any outhalf would have been proud of!
So there we were, with two of the four tries in the bank, and thanks to our trademark tenacious defence, no sign of the home side responding in kind. And chief protagonist in a Leinster jersey was most certainly Sean O'Brien, who was in every way back to his marauding best. You can even use the “context” excuse to explain the penalty he conceded on the stroke of halftime that made the score just 17-9 and left the result in the balance at the break.
While Leinster were welcoming back their three stars to action, there was another trio in their starting lineup which I singled out in my preview, all of whom needed good outings to help keep their spot in the pecking order intact, and they had varying degrees of success.
Top of the class was most certainly, and most surprisingly, Fionn Carr. I have gone out of my way to criticize him this season, and have to say when I saw his name on the teamsheet opposite try-machine Tim Visser I was more than concerned, but he sure didn't live up to the negative hype and could have had a try himself.
As for Devin, well he still needs to work on the physical side of his game but he was definitely visible in more ways than simply his near-seven-foot frame. Let's just say he seems to be up to the challenge that lies ahead for the next fortnight.
When it comes to Kevin McLoughlin, I really don't know. Personally I'd go for Ruddock ahead of him in the Heineken reckoning – things just don't seem to be going for him, and when Shane Jennings came on our performance went up another notch although that didn't seem possible.
Perhaps Michael Bradley will be ripping in to his defence this week for the way Jenno was able to seemingly walk through them before perfectly letting in Sexton for try number three, but still the way he showed every ounce of his experience to make full advantage of the break means we'll need at least sixty minutes out of him against both the Scarlets and Exeter.
Ironically we needed to go a man down to get the bonus point try. Many still criticise Jamie Heaslip for “invisibility” but I would argue that when Sean O'Brien wins a man of the match award a sizeable chunk of the credit must go to his number 8 and his “unseen” work, though between Healy's disallowed try and the yellow card I suppose sometimes it does get seen!
Given he will likely be the most unfortunate player to be left out of next week's starting lineup, it was fitting that Ian Madigan got the fourth dot down. Besides, if Leinster are to be successful on their maximum mission over the next two matches, you'd bet anything he'd have some involvement in the decisive scores then too.
Of course if you wanted to be critical of this display you could raise questions as to how a prop who had been on from the start can “sprint” home for a consolation try in the 75th minute, but once more we need to think of the context. The five Pro12 points were in the bag and given the standards Leinster have shown defensively lately, I'm not so sure he'd have gotten near the line if the scores were tight.
It wasn't all bad from the home side, by the way...Piers Fisher seems to be a useful signing at outhalf and with a string of games under his belt could get them back up the table before the season is out. Also from a Lions standpoint although he had a poor outing here I hope Tim Visser recovers quickly from his injury. But it's pretty clear that Bradley's team have slumped from the dizzy heights of a European semifinal to the poor relations of Scottish regional rugby and his days at the helm may be numbered.
But overall, though it may not have been quite what the locals would call “hogmanay”, it was an extremely satisfying way for Leinster to celebrate the New Year in Edinburgh. If we can find a way to bottle our intensity and bring it with us throughout January, we may just remind the rest of Europe just why those three stars are sown on our jersey, should it be forgot. JLP
Also this weekend
Dragons 3 - 14 Ospreys (Dec 31)
