[Update May 14, 2014 - Archive time here at HoR…this weekend Matt O’Connor faces Ulster in his first Celtic League semifinal, just over four years after his predecessor did the same.]
More than likely a neutral rugby fan looking at this scoreline without watching the match would nary raise an eyebrow.
But the way I saw it, we were there for the taking and Ulster just didn’t have enough tools in the box to get it done.
The Northerners have had an amazing season, and although it would be just as unfair to suggest it was all down to Ruan Pienaar as it was to put Leinster’s 2009 success down to Rocky Elsom, there was a sense of irony that the only points they managed to get on the night were by his boot and from a superlative distance.
And it was the sequence events right after that mammoth kick comfortably cleared the posts when Ulster had a good chance to cause an upset.
Back within 8pts and Leinster’s bench all but cleared, Luke Fitzgerald came very close to a “Candelon moment” when he took Adam Darcy while in mid air but luckily George Clancy didn't see fit to produce a card.
Then we had, in the space of about a minute, the ups and downs of the Ulster pack’s performance on the night. After Ian Humphreys booted the penalty into touch, Rory Best failed yet again to master the swirling RDS winds with his dart and it seemed an excellent chance to get into scoring position was wasted.
But where the Ulster skipper and his tight 8 WERE finding traction was in the scrum. Even when our supposed marquee front row was on the park they were causing problems, but at this stage there was van Der Merwe, Wright and the 22-year old Jason Harris-Wright to contend with and they managed to win it against the head and launch an attack. Any score at this point would have set up a nailbiting finish for sure.
Luckily for us we were able to delve into the back pocket and find the awesome defence which has stood us in such good stead this season, and when Timothy Barker carried the ball into the tackle of Jamie Heaslip, our number 8’s exemplary jackling was enough to force a penalty for holding.
So basically, whatever they threw at us we somehow found an answer for, and it spoke volumes that pretty much our entire bench was involved in the build up to Luke’s try which sealed it.
After Heaslip forced yet another turnover, some crash ball from both Stan & Jason Harris-Wright set things up for a clever dip of the shoulder by Madigan to get us into a good position. Eoin Reddan’s quick ball throughout this series of phases surely nailed down the 9 jersey for Cardiff and Luke found the perfect line to evade the attempted tackles of Pienaar & Wanneburg and surge under the posts and that was that.
We were all delighted to see Luke get the decisive touchdown, but was that enough for him to start next Saturday? Methinks not. He still had a few yips and although McFadden dropped one catch he also chipped in with the opening try plus the powerful carries into contact he displayed the previous week were still there.
I think it was quite telling that Fergus was put in the centre to replace Drico in the second half…surely 12 months ago that would have been Luke? We’ll have to wait and see.
Now, while I’m speaking of the man they call Triskaidekaphobia - yet more irony that he gets himself into the wars on Friday the 13th. I only sat and watched his spat with Chris Henry on Sunday night for the first time.
Was O’Driscoll lucky not to be pinged? Yes, very. Was it citable? Maybe. But I was very interested to hear how the BBCNI spoke of the incident. It was like he randomly threw a punch at Henry. Not so. The Ulster flanker had just shoved his hand in Brian’s face.
Not deserving of what he got in return I’ll grant you, but if the word “citing” is to be bandied about, then you can’t expect the commissioner not to look for context, and I contend that if the offended party have themselves committed a wrong (and you can’t say we weren’t in “eye area” territory…) then the officials are given an “out” in that they can go for the “six of one half a dozen the other” call.
So maybe we dodged another ban bullet, but the question remains…have we dodged the injury one? Drico himself limped off, Isaac Boss seemed a bit crook, but biggest worry is Richardt Strauss. Leinster Rugby normally post a “squad update” on Monday morning and I don’t think there has ever been one more eagerly anticipated! [update – was just about to publish the post when the update went on the site, looks like everything is ok, but fingers, toes, eyes still crossed…]
Hopefully we’ll be all clear to field our strongest XV in Cardiff. For although the likes of Jonny10 didn’t have their best night at the office on Friday, we all know what they can do on the big occasion.
And speaking of big occasions, of course we now have another one at Thomond Park in two weeks’ time! I thought Munster were equally fortuitous in seeing off the Ospreys, and also that Ronan had quite possibly his worst ever outing in his comfort zone. But you can bet your bottom euro they’ll be up for the final, and with an extra week’s rest we’ll need to dig deeper than ever to come away with anything.
It’s shaping up to be a super couple of weeks for Leinster fans, isn’t it? All we need are the right results to go with it.
P.S. Had my second six-outta-six in a row with the forecasting on my SportsNews Ireland column…
“So, after I was able to predict six out of six Magners League winners in my article last week, how will I fare this time round? Well, I feel I should pick at least one away victory, so I’ll plump for Montpellier to do that, with Leinster, Munster, Leicester, Saracens, Clermont & the Reds all making their home fans happy.”
…good job I threw a few bob at it! Drinking money for next week = sorted!
