AMATEUR HOUR
I had a great time on Saturday night at Leinster’s competitive home opener, that’s for sure, but in my book the only thing about the occasion which could be considered “top flight” was the attendance, which was the largest of the 10 Magners League games so far this season.
The officiating, for starters, was abysmal. Forward passes missed, the ref getting buried by a lineout, a clearance kick claimed not to have been taken from inside 22 when it clearly was, and finally the Dragons try being scored after a blatant obstruction of Gordon D’Arcy.
Then there was the poor judgement of the visiting side. Down by six and with the clock having run down, they had a penalty in their own 22 and merely had to put the ball out of play to secure a bonus point at the home of the European Champions, yet they seemed to think they were somehow capable of scoring a try against one of the continent’s stingiest defences and it ending up sending them home with nothing thanks to Berne’s drop goal.
Even Setanta were screwing up, as I discovered on re-watching the game the following day. Their clock said only 78 minutes had elapsed when the referee blew for full time, and their commentator was getting player’s names wrong all over the place.
Add to all that the absence of most of Leinster’s vast Lions contingent and you’d be forgiven for thinking this was nothing more than a glorified AIB League matchup.
The one touch of class on the night came immediately after D’Arcy’s introduction, and that really says it all. First play after he came on, he joined the line from the left wing and his quick pass to Nacewa allowed him to crash over for the score.
Not to say that there weren’t impressive displays about the park by the Leinster men. It is quite clear that we have an abundance of riches in our squad, particularly in the key positions from 6 through 10. Sean O’Brien earned his man-of-the-match accolade in the number 8 jersey, while Chris Keane had another impressive outing at scrum half.
One or two concerns I have in the backs…though both Nacewa and McFadden did well I’m concerned that their crash style is a bit too one-dimensional and could be easily thwarted by top Heineken Cup opposition.
And although he’s a cult hero and seems to give his best, I have to be honest and say I’m not a Shaggy fan anymore, at least not as a winger – he’s built more like a flanker if you ask me and I can’t help feeling we’d fare better with someone younger and pacier out there.
But a win is a win I suppose, though there’s little doubt in my mind that if we’d had our best team out in both our matches so far we’d have 10 points in the standings going into two tricky trips to Swansea and Edinburgh.
I just hope that when the Oct3 clash with the Munsters comes around, I’ll be treated to an evening of professional rugby which the price of my season ticket demands.
