Leinster-34 Glasgow-12

Click here for the full set of matchday photos from Ken Bohane

LEINST WE FORGET

It probably, scratch that - it DEFINITELY goes without saying that this was a satisfying victory for Leinster fans.

Not only was there a major trophy on offer but it was the final farewell for two of the province's most legendary figures.

But for me the satisfaction did not come near to ending there.

This has been a curious season for Leinster Rugby to say the very least. Going into Saturday's final, when you look at the raw stats over the time dating back to that opening day demolition of the Scarlets in Llanelli, you'd see a record in all competitions that any provincial team would envy...played 30, won 23, drawn 1, lost 6.

Yet the thrust of all the commentary around the game was such that Leinster, and by association first-season coach Matt O'Connor, would be considered failures should they fall short against the Glasgow Warriors on the last day in May.

I suppose when you have the amount of success Leinster have enjoyed in recent seasons, that's a fair enough call. Still though...when you consider that the bulk of the criticism in this campaign stems from two defeats in particular over the course of the season, one at home to Northampton and one in Toulon, both of whom went on to win a brace of silverware themselves, you have to feel the bar was being set a tad high even for us.

So what was most satisfying for me about this result and performance was the fact that for all the talent and ability brought by the visitors, Leinster won fair and square on the day. No game-changing refereeing decisions, no lucky bounces of the ball, no reason for anyone to say “the better side lost”, a comment left on HarpinOnRugby social media channels after several Leinster victories this season.

First though, we must pay tribute to the visitors. Glasgow Warriors have done Scottish rugby proud throughout the season, they brought over a superb following on the day, and they most certainly belonged in the tournament's showpiece. In my preview I said the setting was similar to Leinster's 2009 Heineken Cup final only this time the roles were reversed...we were the ones with the big game experience and Glasgow the pretenders. In fact the Warriors even had a young out-half in Finn Russell who had come from nowhere to impress in the second half of the season, much as Sexton did back in Murrayfield.

Yet for all the consistency it took to get the Warriors to this big day, I think it's fair to say they just didn't have the extra 5% at key moments to take the chances when they had them. Hopefully the final margin of victory, which I will admit was somewhat unfair to the way the match went, won't deter them from regrouping for next year's challenge because there is no doubting that the Pro12 is a much better competition thanks to the achievements of Gregor Townsend & his staff in the past few seasons.

And when I talk about not having that extra 5%, it has to be said that it was up to Leinster to make them need it on the day, and I'd find it hard to fault anyone's performance in blue. In fact, not for the first time this season, I have absolutely no idea what the thinking was behind the awarding of Man of the Match...Sean Cronin has been a fine servant to Leinster of that there is no doubt, but I don't know what more you can do to earn the awards than score 2 tries and provide the final pass for the other 2?

“Zane Kirchner had a good role in the Fanning try but overall it wasn’t his best outing.  We have all said how he was never going to replace Isa and that is true but I don’t think it’s too much to expect at least one man-of-the-match display from him before the season is out. “

I penned that in my writeup for (ironically) our last meeting with Glasgow back at the beginning of March (another one we should have lost apparently), and I believe that although there were fine displays from several players including Gopperth, Ruddock, Reddan, McFadden, Rob Kearney, Madigan and yes even Cronin, Kirchner saved his best outing for last and deserved the gong in my humble opinion.

But let us not forget that this match was still very much a contest going into the final quarter, and much like our playoff win over Ulster, the key moments came between the 55th and 60th minutes.

With the score a mere 14-12 to the home side Rob Kearney connected with a clearance from within his own 22 a bit too well and it went out over the far end line, resulting in a scrum to Glasgow in what was to say the least a great attacking position. But with the clock heading towards 60 as it was the scrum gave the teams and officials a chance to regroup.

Glasgow took the opportunity to finally replace their tight head Jon Welsh who had been absolutely destroyed all day by Cian Healy. I'm not sure how legal Church's sets were (on the call of “bind” he seemed to place his head around his opponent's belly button) but I didn't see Welsh nor his captain complaining so I guess it was ok? Anyway...like I always say we best leave such matters between the front rows where they belong!

The point was...this was a crucial scrum and even though the clock was stopped as the subs came on (including no less a figure than Sean O'Brien by the way) and referee Nigel Owens took a sip of water, every passing moment must have made it more and more clear in Glasgow's heads that this could well be “now or never” time.

The Warriors had some impact subs of their own...most notably in the form of Fijians Nakarawa and Matawalu. The former is a giant back rower whom I call “The Octopus” for the way no matter how he is tackled he always seems to have an extra arm or two free to attempt a cheeky offload. It definitely worked against Glasgow that an injury to Fusaro meant he came on early and Leinster were bang wide to his unconventional decisions by the final quarter.

Then there was Matawalu, who although half the size of Nakarawa has twice the desire to do the unexpected. Glasgow needed to roll the dice, and having won the scrum and worked the phases to get within another sniff of the Leinster line, the stage was set for Matawalu to get over.

But such was the way the famed 15-headed blue monster that is the Leinster defence had frustrated the visitors all day, that final yard or two proved elusive and the sub scrum half reached for the line when he really had no right to and knocked it on...then despite the relatively small area behind the RDS try-line, Leinster had the audacity to chuck the ball out wide and before you could say “see you Jimmy!”, Gopperth was surging down the pitch and eventually it was a 5m scrum way down the other end, which in turn led to a penalty, and the lead was stretched to 5.

In the space of just 5 minutes on the clock, Glasgow got their answer to the “now or never” question and it wasn't the one they wanted.

Of course I couldn't let the writeup go without mentioning the four Leinster tries, all of which were fit to grace any major final. Crossing the whitewash on big occasions has been an area where we have struggled, but one word you can definitely use to describe our offence all season is “patient”, and when it mattered on Saturday we had the ability to keep control through the phases before both finding and exploiting the gaps when they appeared, and as I have already mentioned Kirchner was heavily involved in all four, with Jennings and Darcy also chipping in.

But despite all the 5-pointers it was the superiority in Leinster’s defence which won this contest for me. When Matt O'Connor took the reins, he made no secret of the fact that this was a priority for him. Despite all the success last season, we were a tad shaky without the ball and I firmly believe in any team sport it is in defence where you should get things right first.

And for all the criticism he has copped throughout the year, he has stuck with the winning formula and nit-pick at individual performances all you want...this season has been better than last. Remember...we can't go by trophy count since there's a reason we weren't in the Amlin this time around!!!

Finally I get to mention the two retiring heroes. So much has been written about their “long goodbyes” all season (by myself included) that I'm sure both Brian & Leo can forgive me for leaving it so late in my writeup to mention them.

But as sad and stunning as it was to see BOD go off after only 8 minutes (has that EVER happened?), it was also in some ways fitting...his last act in professional rugby was to run full pelt to try and charge down a clearance for his team despite being injured. Not much more I can add to that to show the man’s dedication.

And as for Leo, I had to laugh watching back the RTE coverage as Donal Lenihan remarked that the Leinster fans didn't seem to know Cullen had taken the field...clearly the chants of “Leeee-o, Leeee-o” hadn't tipped him off. He won us a penalty at a key moment and got busy with his usual sterling work around the breakdown area. Again, a fitting way to end such a successful career.

Still...this great day could not be just about them. Let us not forget the other 44 players involved, the officials, the sell-out crowd, in fact the much-maligned league itself. Hopefully the Welsh regions watching this final, played as it was shortly after the Premiership one, will find some comfort that they are in a league with a much higher standard of entertaining rugby – at least the difference was glaringly obvious to this blogger.

Next season will see many changes...a new sponsor for this league, a new format for Europe and the start of the serious countdown to RWC2015.

But will anything change my support and appreciation for Leinster Rugby? I think not. Many thanks to all involved at the province....yet another job extremely well done. JLP

Click here for post-match reaction on the HarpinOnRugby Facebook page

Also this weekend

Premiership Final : Saracens 20 - 24 Northampton Saints

Top 14 Final : Toulon 18 - 10 Castres

Leinster-13 Ulster-9

SO NEAR AND YET PIENAAR

If there are any Leinster fans out there who don't at least have a bit of empathy for their Ulster counterparts after this match then they clearly haven't a soul. And I know that may come across as trite and patronising, but I'm happy to run that risk because the statement is true.

I have shared many a stadium with Ulster fans over the years and there is no doubt that they are more than a match for followers of any other team in the world whatever the sport in terms or loyalty, passion and banter. Sure they have a minority who try to let them down, but so does every team, us included. All you need to do is watch how every single spectator is on their feet clapping off BOD as he left the field for what could have been the last time ever and you'll know what I mean.

Yet while these two great provinces may be well matched in terms of support, the fact that way more often than not one tends to come out on top in big contests shows up the difference in the stage of development of their respective rugby programmes, and even though it took us a lot longer to turn the screw than ever before, the way in which we did it still managed to highlight that very gap.

Apologies if my headline seems to lay all the blame for the defeat on Ruan Pienaar, because that is far from the case. The reason I single him out though has more to do with the pun, however...it's about the personalities and performances a team can produce when their marquee talent aren't available or at the top of their game.

Compare this match to last year's final between the same two teams at the same venue. On that day Leinster had Sexton, Nacewa, Strauss, Boss, O'Driscoll and Cullen all putting in full 80 minute shifts, plus of course there was The Schmidt Factor. With BOD finishing early and Leo starting late on Saturday, plus the fact that the rest of that array of talent were out of the equation altogether, that is a serious amount of big shoes that needed filling.

Of course the changes weren't all on the Leinster side from that final last year...Payne is quite rightly making a timely run for a regular start at 13 so Craig Gilroy was a full back, plus Nick Williams, Tom Court and John Afoa are also massive losses.

And don't think for a second that I'm suggesting Ulster don't have anyone else to introduce when those key figures are out. Iain Henderson was only on the bench for that final but he showed every bit on Saturday why he has to be in contention for a Lions 2017 start, let alone an Ireland one. The other nations may not know too much about him just yet, but it won't be long.

But what I am saying is that pound for pound, while the ideal first string teams of these two provinces may be closer to parity than they have been in recent seasons, it's in the ability to get performances out of the players on the next level down that has proven the difference.

Sure, Leinster were shut out for 58 minutes at home, something that doesn't exactly happen every week, and as well as the visitors were playing, we weren't getting the most out of our top performers, with Gordon D'Arcy and Eoin Reddan probably the biggest culprits in having an off day.

Yet when you preview matches like this, you hardly take into account someone like Quinn Roux coming out of the blue into the starting lineup and putting in a solid 50-minute shift. Nor do you think your near-7-foot lock is going to be able to throw a dummy and play a big role in kickstarting an offence which badly needed it. Nor do you think that a young scrum-half like Luke McGrath who didn't think he'd be involved at all on the day will be able to come on with 11 minutes to go in as tight a game of cup rugby as you'll see and more than hold his own...did I mention he came on as a replacement winger for Dave Kearney?

Meanwhile as Ruan Pienaar had a day he'd probably rather forget, it wasn't so much that Ulster were poor in other positions, rather there just wasn't the spark coming from unlikely sources that was required to get their hard-earned 9-0 lead over the line. Plus with no disrespect meant to the players on their bench, they had nowhere near the talent of Madigan, O'Brien and Cullen to introduce to the fray in the closing stages.

Though there were a multitude of turning points, the flashpoint in this fixture for me was the 55th minute. That 9-point lead had just been established, and Iain Henderson had just forced a turnover penalty at midfield. Paddy Jackson was forced to leave the field to be replaced by Ian McKinney, who despite leaving the province at the end of the season, proved his worth down at Thomond Park last week.

But for the third time in the contest, Pienaar failed to find a relatively simple touch with the kick from the hand. We could perhaps offer mitigating circumstances like the swirling wind plus the fact that Leinster's solid D made him try to eke every millimetre he could out of each kick, but I very much doubt Ruan himself would have any of that.

And as part of the ensuing run back, Ian Madigan surged down the field and before long it was Leinster on the front foot in the opposition 22 and with Callum Black falling into a ruck from the side, Jimmy Gopperth had the chance to not only put us finally on the board, but also keep Ulster's time with a two-score lead to the absolute minimum.

Here I will admit that we were a tad lucky on two Ulster possessions in our 22 over the final few minutes, which came either side of the decisive Madigan try. On both occasions, they had gotten to within a whisker of the Leinster line only for referee Leighton Hodges to award a scrum to the home side. Also on both occasions, there was a strong case to be made for penalties to be awarded to Ulster.

However...when you take into account how the match had gone up to that point, you can see why the ref was favouring the defence, and to be fair he was doing so for both sides for the 80 minutes. Although those were the last two times Ulster threatened with phases in our 22, they were by no means the first, and time after time after time particularly in the first half they were denied by a Leinster defence that to a man was tackling, jackling and covering as though their lives depended on it.

I also think Hodges handled other potential flashpoints well, like collisions in the air and the spat just before halftime between Andrew Trimble and Rob Kearney. And in many ways it was the cause of that spat which could have swayed the ref against the Ulstermen in those closing stages...clearly part of their plan to disrupt our D was to hold on to pillar & post defenders a fraction longer than usual but he had their number on it and they didn't seem to have a Plan B in that particular area and kept doing it.

And taken on its own, the try which clinched the match was worthy of the honour. Though Leinster's offence stuttered much as it has in recent weeks, it would only take one key offload/ decent line combo to spark and ironically it was Gopperth & Madigan who provided it seeing how the debate over them has been “either/or” all season.

That Madigan was awarded man-of-the-match despite coming off the bench was probably the right call...he contributed more than just the try when he came on and certainly made a case for himself in the 12 position...don't forget he played 80 minutes there in last year's final. Had the result gone the other way, however, I'd have gone for another Ian, or should I say Iain, namely Ulster's number 5 Henderson.

Overall while this was in many ways a perfect 80 minutes of cup rugby for the “neutral”, given Leinster's success in recent years, I'm not sure exactly how many neutrals there were out there watching! I'm under no illusions that the “ABL” support is growing with every result like this one!

But that won't stop me from getting as much enjoyment as I can out of yet another Pro12 final at the RDS in a couple of weeks, not to mention the bonus of cheering on the A team at Donnybrook this Friday.

Given the run of winning form that the Glasgow Warriors are on, plus the fact that we find scoring 5-pointers so difficult this weather, retaining our Pro12 title will be anything but easy. Still...I reckon it's a safe bet Gregor Townsend & co are thinking exactly the same. Bring it on. JLP

Click here for post-match reaction on the HarpinOnRugby Facebook page

Also this weekend

Glasgow 16 - 15 Munster

Next fixture

Friday, May 23

British & Irish Cup Final

Leinster A v Leeds Carnegie (click here for tickets)

Donnybrook Stadium, KO 7pm, Live on Setanta Ireland & RFU.com

Leinster-15 Edinburgh-13

CATCH 22

The 2013/14 campaign may not be over just yet but now that the 22 rounds of the Pro12 regular season have been completed, we have a fair amount of concrete stats with which we can compare Matt O'Connor's first season in charge at Leinster with Joe Schmidt's last one.

We already knew how their respective European campaigns measure up...last season we finished second in our pool while this year we won the toughest pool out of the six. Sure, last season we went on to win the Amlin but that was thanks to victories against teams who have hardly set the world alight since, while this year our “reward” for topping the pool was a trip to Toulon.

Last season in the Rabo we finished second and only got the final at home due to a technicality. We'll never know how it would have gone had it been in Belfast but it surely had to be worth at least a point or two on the scoreboard for Ulster.

This season we have finished top of the table, with more league points (82) than Leinster have ever achieved in the Celtic League. Tries scored may be down on last season (57 v 63) but tries conceded is remarkably better (30 v 46) and all 4 of Leinster's league defeats were by 7 points or less.

Sorry Matt, but that's just not good enough.

Am I tongue in cheek with that last sentence? Well, I guess that depends on what angle I'm taking.

If I were to base my appraisal purely on Leinster's performance on Saturday evening against Edinburgh, well then sure, the statement holds water.

But if you take an overall view, then I maintain my assertion that O'Connor needs to be given until at least a couple of matches into next season's Rugby Champions Cup before we can cast final judgement. Failing miserably in the upcoming Rabo playoffs will heap pressure on him I certainly grant you that, but if we're going to set the bar for success purely at Joe Schmidt levels then I'd have to wonder if anyone would ever fancy coming here in the future.

OK – got that off my chest. This is a writeup for Saturday, so what say I get on with it.

First of all, I have to hand it to Edinburgh for playing their part. I'm not sure they quite had nothing to play for...Scottish rugby in general had a lot to gain with them causing an upset as it would have increased the chances of a grand final in Glasgow for the first time. But still, you would have forgiven them for playing as though they had summertime pursuits like foreign tours and rounds of golf on their minds.

When they had chances on the day, they took them. Who knows, they could have won had they not lost Beard, Denton and Scott in the first half or if Visser and Scott hadn't fluffed their transfer (with no opponents near I might add) which caused the Bezuidenhout try to be disallowed. Right to the end they were contesting and they deserve credit.

As for Leinster, though many may disagree, I thought things weren't all that bad either. It was Rhys Ruddock and Mike McCarthy who were caught napping in the 65^th minute when Greig Laidlaw broke through from deep to set up Tim Visser for Edinburgh's only try, but even though it brought the visitors to within 2 points, the RTE replays seemed to be more concerned with the injury sustained by BOD than how the gap was found.

But otherwise things weren't too bad defensively, plus when we had the ball and our goal was simply retaining possession, much like Ravenhill last week we showed we could get the job done.

Let's be clear...if we can restrict opponents to just 13 points at the RDS, we should win every time. Now, here's is where the doubt comes over my use of the word “should”.

If the opposition gets 13, we'll of course need to get at least 14 and on Saturday, we made life very difficult for ourselves turning possession into points. And this could well be the very reason why Leinster fans are so frustrated with Matt O'Connor.

Ball kicked out on the full in open play. Botched lineouts after clean catch. Conceded pen on own scrum put-in. Foot in touch when ball sent out wide. Ball stripped in tackle. Pile those on top of several occasions when we flat out knocked the ball on and you have a multitude of sins committed when we had the ball in our possession.

Yet for the entire 80 minutes we persevered with a strategy of incessant phase play down the middle with the only other options being either chuck it out wide or plant a grubber through. Now to be fair, this actually worked as early as the 9^th minute when Jordi Murphy went over after (my man of the match) Dave Kearney had received the ball out wide and forced his way back infield while still gaining yards.

Also to be fair, there was one notable exception to the general offensive rule where Kearney The Younger cut in from his wing on a set move. And guess what, he scored.

So what I'm wondering is...were we toying with Edinburgh? Was it our intention to simply get the win we needed whilst not providing Ulster with a display that shows all of our hand going into next week? If so, that's definitely a risky policy and it's one that only just paid off, and the real fruits of it won't be known until next Saturday.

But while the resulting contest provided little entertainment for the drenched RDS crowd (though at least the rain held off while the match was actually on), I saw just about enough to keep my glass as half full for the time being. The official farewell to BOD & Leo was a significant sub-plot to the occasion and put in that context, for it to take place on the back of any kind of home victory had to be a good thing.

Will we win the league playing the way we did last Saturday? Absolutely not. But do I think we'll play the same way next Saturday? I have to say no.

What the makeup of the matchday 23 will be is a mystery...last week I “demanded” that Ian Madigan be retained at 10 and to be honest I have given up trying to predict what O'Connor is going to do for such a key position.

Maybe that's exactly what he wants the Ulster coaching set-up to do as well, but when his main problem is offensive production, again I say it's a risky route to take.

Still though, as things stand right now, I sincerely hope Leinster fans are united behind Matt O'Connor and his squad. Whatever reservations anyone may have about the Pro12, it's still a major trophy that's there to be won, we're the reigning champions and we definitely have a strong chance of retaining it. Come On You Boys In Blue. JLP

Click here for post-match reaction on the HarpinOnRugby Facebook page

Also this weekend

Dragons 20 - 19 Benetton Treviso

Glasgow 54 - 0 Zebre

Munster 17 - 19 Ulster

Ospreys 45 - 20 Connacht

Scarlets 27 - 15 Cardiff Blues

	TEAM	PLD	PTS	W	PD	T	PF	TD
1	LEINSTER	22	82	17	202	57	554	27
2	GLASGOW	22	79	18	175	53	484	31
3	MUNSTER	22	74	16	199	56	538	29
4	ULSTER	22	70	15	151	45	470	19
5	OSPREYS	22	66	13	183	59	571	27
6	SCARLETS	22	55	11	-3	43	435	-2
7	CARDIFF BLUES	22	41	8	-113	32	425	-23
8	EDINBURGH	22	38	7	-129	38	397	-19
9	NG DRAGONS	22	35	7	-138	34	392	-12
10	CONNACHT	22	35	6	-138	42	371	-12
11	TREVISO	22	30	5	-215	31	376	-41
12	ZEBRE	22	29	5	-212	35	347	-24

 

Semifinal lineup

 

Fri May 16  Glasgow Warriors v Munster, 7:35pm

 

Sat May 17  Leinster v Ulster, 7pm

Ulster-20 Leinster-22

I’LL SEE YOU, (IN) COURT

There's no denying that derby matches bring the enjoyment we get out of team sports to a different level.

But when you throw in the emotion of a team captain possibly playing in front of his home fans for the last time, the official opening of a magnificent new set of stands, plus of course what happened a few weeks ago against Saracens, you get a level that the sport may not yet have reached, even though this was to all intents and purposes “just another Pro12 fixture”.

And since my official description of HarpinOnRugby is as a “fan site” as opposed to “blog”, I need to have a high level of appreciation for the way a typical supporter of any club, not just Leinster, would view a particular match.

So we have to expect there to be a narrative stemming from Friday night's match in Ravenhill which suggests Ulster were victims of another gross injustice which led to a heartbreaking home defeat. I can't really expect them to look at the game in any other way.

Of course it could be said that if I even try to make a case against that notion, it would be through my own blue goggles. I guess all I can do is have a go at calling the match as I saw it and let everyone else's goggles see it as they wish.

First and foremost, allow me to put my head above the parapet and deal with the Tom Court decision, which most certainly defined the match, the first in the competition for Luke Pearce.  He’s considered a big deal by the RFU by the way, though he has had his share of controversy in the past (but what ref hasn’t?).

Derby matches don't just fire up the fans...if players have any sense of loyalty to the jersey they're wearing it should raise their own game by an extra few percentage points as well. And clearly Court was fired up for this contest...it wasn't even a minute old when he conceded a pen for blatantly blocking Ian Madigan after the Leinster out-half chipped it forward.

So there was no doubting he was playing with the intensity you want to see from your players. But did that intensity mean he intended to drive Devin Toner into the ground and hurt him? Absolutely not.

But here's the problem – referees need guidelines, and never more so that when it comes to player safety. And in certain areas of the game, the law makers have had to come up with technical legal frameworks with which the officials can make their decisions. The trouble with doing that is...specific situations will always provide exceptions.

On our journey from the incident to the decision, we MUST take all of the derby/new Ravenhill/Jared Payne emotion out of the equation if we ever hope to be reasonable about it. For me, doing my best to be objective, I think there are two key aspects to the referee's final decision. (1) When Tom had him in the air, he did not stop driving, and (2) The referee determined, with the agreement of the TMO I might add, that Toner landed on his neck.

The laws are quite clear for both as far as I saw it – red card. I would actually argue with the “landed on neck” determination though – for as you can see by the photo, Toner's first contact with the ground was with his arm. But once the ref saw it as neck, he had to produce red, and once he explains the thinking behind his decision I'm not sure there's much more we can do.

The thing is though...his explanations for decisions weren't quite so clear for the rest of the match. And here is where the Ulster victimisation narrative doesn't hold sway. Like I say, I totally understand why the home fans were fired up and although many rugby fans abhor booing I can appreciate the frustration that brought it for every subsequent decision that went against the home side.

But while the Court decision wasn't the only controversial one that went against the home side on the night, if you try to suggest that the only injustices were going in one direction, then there is no point having a discussion because you're not dealing with all the facts.

From the sending off to the final whistle, there was no way another Ulster player was going to see any kind of card no matter what they did. As we will see, Leinster were no angels either, but a punch thrown by Nick Williams was ignored, Tommy Bowe jumping into Devin Toner while he was in the air for a restart was ignored, plus there were multiple penalties at scrum time which the visitors were dominating even when 15 v 15.

Add to this lesser offences like BOD being pinged for not rolling away when he wasn't the tackler and Jamie Heaslip for not releasing after tackle even though Johann Muller had him in a crocodile death roll on the ground, and you see that the poor decisions were not all going in one direction. I totally understand why we're normally perceived as the “bad guys” these days, but that doesn't mean we're not just as entitled to point out bad calls.

Still...Rob Kearney's tackle on Paddy Jackson was definitely an extremely dangerous one which also could have seen red. I personally thought he was gone. But this highlights the trouble with these “IRB directives”. By tacking them onto the official Laws of the Game you end up making some types of dangerous play more “important” than others.

If we're saying Tom had no intent to harm then we should afford the same to Rob. He tried to grab Jackson by the shoulders to drag him into touch but missed. It looked extremely dangerous but unlike the spear tackle I'm not so sure there's a directive which tells the ref to “start at red and work backwards”.

And it perhaps wouldn't hurt to give the referee the opportunity to award a penalty try even if the attacking player actually grounds the ball....the penalty should stem from the attempt to prevent rather than the attempt succeeding. The difference in the conversion ultimately led to the difference in the result.

Of course not to be outdone, the “jumping in the air” thing also came into play. Again, a bizarre set of circumstances. Kirchner had kicked the garryowen. He kept his eyes on it. Jackson jumped to catch it. But Ruddock ran into Kirchner's line and ended up getting pushed into Jackson. How the bloody hell do you make sense of that?

But having deemed it foul play, what the ref said was that it was yellow because Jackson didn't land on his neck. Actually I thought his landing was similar to Toner's but there you go.

Anyway...of course some Ulster fans wanted red both times. And as I have shown, a case can be made for them. But we must never forget the importance of viewing each incident separately. Three areas of the game were covered in what was a mesmerizing first half of action. The spear tackle, the high tackle and the tackle in the air. A decision for one must not be determined by a decision for another, and we certainly shouldn't take into account something that happened weeks ago even if it’s against the same team in the same stadium.

Bottom line for me...until the IRB works with coaches, referees and players to produce clarity across the board with regard to this kind of foul play, we're going to have many more matches like this one, of that we can be sure.

That's all for this week's edition of Rugby Law & Order : Dangerous Tackles Unit. How about the actual rugby?

Ian Madigan had the game by the scruff of the neck (maybe that's an unfortunate phrase?) right up to the minute he tried to chip the ball forward and had it blocked by Paddy Jackson which led to the try. From then on the Leinster offence struggled, as it has on several occasions this season. Plus Madigan's placekicking radar was left back in Dublin, so it wasn't the best night for him.

But before we get too big on Paddy Jackson as the “victor” in this battle-of-backup-Irish-10s, he wasn't exactly at the top of his game either.

While Madigan struggled from the tee, Jackson had a poor night from the hand with penalties not finding touch and a restart not going 10. And the struggling offence thing applied to both sides...remember, though history will compare this match to the Saracens one in that Ulster were a man down for most of the contest, in actual fact the home side had an extra man for most of the final 10 minutes of the first half.

Here is where I felt Leinster had the edge on the night, and might have even deserved the win. The lone Ulster try came from broken play but otherwise they could not find a way through the blue D whether there was 13, 14 nor 15 on the park. Some great post-tackle work by the likes of Jennings, D’Arcy and McCarthy seem to have been lost in first-half controversy-fest.

Meanwhile down the other end, thanks to a typically brilliant offload by Brian O'Driscoll, Shane Jennings was put in space and Paddy Jackson will not enjoy reviewing the ease with which he was dummied by a veteran flanker, but his team-mates around him didn't cover themselves in glory with their tackling either as Jenno went over.

So although Leinster themselves took a lot of criticism afterwards, I'm not so sure it was all negative. A solid defensive display plus the ability to keep the discipline to get through over a dozen phases to close out a 2-point lead at the end are qualities you want to have in your squad as the calendar moves into May.

There is no doubt that we will have to find more creative ways to unlock defences, though. I got the impression that we stuck to our gameplan despite the extra man and maybe more creative options would have gotten a better reward.

Having said that, I am certain of one thing. Matt O'Connor must stick with Ian Madigan until the end of the season. He has stuck with Goppperth after poor displays before, and with just three matches left in the season, not only does Mads need the game time before the summer tour, we surely cannot afford to chop and change anymore.

There is a very good chance Leinster will face Ulster again this season. If so, obviously I hope my boys in blue come out on top, but my secondary hope is that it is done in a way which everyone can say is “fair and square”. With the laws & directives as they are however, I won't hold my breath. JLP

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Other recent results

Glasgow 37 - 34 Edinburgh

Zebre 30 - 27 Ospreys

Benetton Treviso 16 - 38 Glasgow

Scarlets 34 - 23 Dragons

Connacht 15 - 22 Cardiff Blues

Edinburgh 12 - 55 Munster

	TEAM	PLD	PTS	W	PD	T	PF	TD
1	LEINSTER	21	78	16	200	55	539	26
2	GLASGOW	21	74	17	121	45	430	23
3	MUNSTER	21	73	16	201	54	521	28
4	ULSTER	21	66	14	149	44	451	20
5	OSPREYS	21	61	12	158	53	526	24
6	SCARLETS	21	51	10	-15	40	408	-3
7	CARDIFF BLUES	21	41	8	-101	30	410	-22
8	EDINBURGH	21	37	7	-127	37	384	-18
9	CONNACHT	21	35	6	-113	39	351	-9
10	NG DRAGONS	21	31	6	-101	32	372	-12
11	ZEBRE	21	29	5	-158	35	347	-16
12	TREVISO	21	29	5	-214	29	357	-41

 

Final round of matches (all to be played Sat May 10 KO 6:30pm)

 

NG Dragons v Benetton Treviso

 

Glasgow v Zebre

 

Leinster v Edinburgh

 

Munster v Ulster

 

Ospreys v Connacht

 

Scarlets v Cardiff Blues