Sunday, October 19, 2008

Leinster-41 Wasps-11



Forgive me for resorting to the obvious wasp-related pun for my headline, but in this case I reckon the cap fits, don't you think?

Now, believe it or believe it not, I actually managed to find a negative spin for Leinster on the back of this performance and result, but I won't share it with you until the end of this post.

After one minute of this contest, when Paul Sackey took the kickoff and shot all the way down the wing to virtually the try line, it looked like it was going to be a long, long Saturday evening in Dublin 4.

But from that moment on, the Leinster boys turned quality on paper into class on grass.

Right throughout the team, and I include subs in that (yes, even Sexton) there were top notch performances.

Sure, I could rave all day about O'Driscolls early brace of tries, particularly the second one, which had me bowing to his greatness (woulda looked a lot better if everyone in the stand did it with me though).

But what made the difference on the day was the fact that our defence remained solid for the entire 80 minutes, just like I said it needed to do.

The visiting English champions never looked like breaching the blue wall they faced, and it took a controversial try (ironically by an Irishman) to post five points on the board and leave the home support nervously contemplating what the second half may bring.

Well, whatever Michael Cheika said to them in the dressing-room, I'd like to bottle it and sell it on ebay cos I'd be able to retire early. Even with the loss of our talismanic Number 13 to an injury which I hope won't rule him out of Ireland's crucial upcoming internationals, we came out all guns blazing and effectively killed the game as a contest from the kickoff with Luke Fitzgerald's touchdown.

And as we looked on in a mixture of delight and disbelief, we secured the bonus point shortly after and even found time to cross the line twice more, completely blanking our opponents for the second half.

So it's two wins out of two for Leinster in Pool Two, a maximum of ten points, and already a six-point lead over the rest. We now have a home-and-away pair of clashes with a Castres team which is now effectively out of the competition.

How on EARTH can I possibly find anything negative about our situation?

Well, it doesn't have to be negative, it just could be. This result, together with what will no doubt be and endless loop of re-runs on Sky News of Drico's wonder try, will surely have Leinster installed right throughout European rugby as favourites to win the Heineken Cup.

If the lads can stand up to that pressure the way stood up to their illustrious opposition yesterday, this could turn out to be a memorable season. We shall see.

D4tress

D4tress
Taken by JLP from RDS press box on Nov 16, 2019