The way this blog is meant to work is that every Monday morning I give my two cents on Leinster's performance at the weekend.
The teeny flaw with that system is that it helps for me to have seen the match in question. If it's at home, being a season-ticket holder, you can be sure I'll have been there – away matches aren't quite so easy to get to as commitments have reduced my frequent flyer miles to virtually zero – luckily most of Leinster's Pro12 & Heineken matches are covered on the telly box this weather.
So for this week and next, I'm relying on the reports of others. Though the way this match at Franklin's Gardens panned out, it's probably just as well I didn't get to watch the action, as it seems to have all been down at one end!
I had three principal sources of information, apart of course from the official account on the Leinster Rugby website you'll find when you click the headline to this piece.
- @OLSCRugby : For a match that offered no coverage by the traditional media, fair play to the Official Leinster Supporters' Club for keeping fans up to date on what was going on via Twitter. When your side is winning you have no problem posting latest scores, but it takes a special kind of fan to continue reporting each and every one of seven tries against you especially having made the journey across the pond.
- The Irish Independent: You'd have thought the principal role of the “mainstream” media would be to provide context. It seems the Indo was fresh out of it at the weekend. I know I didn't see the match, but it wouldn't take a genius to look at the two starting selections and see the disparity, and surely this was at least worth a mention. The Saints having come off a disappointing season started with Foden, Artimiyev, Dickson, Hartley, Pisi, Mujati … while Leinster had but two that began the 2012 Heineken Cup final. That's not to take anything away from the home side who of course won fair and square, but my point is that the selections should have at least been mentioned in a match report – instead the Indo went for phrases like “New-look Leinster crushed” and “a thoroughly miserable day for Leinster” as if Joe Schmidt needed to go back to his drawing board. Of course when I pointed this out on Facebook I stood accused of being a “sore loser” - I guess this all comes with the territory when your side is so succesful in Europe, folks will take any opportunity they can to knock you down! We'll see what they're saying when the season proper is in full swing.
- Cuan Mulligan is a dyed-in-the-wool Leinster fan now based in London, and he brought his family to Franklin's Gardens. Too bad the result wasn't ideal, but judging by the photos he kindly offered HarpinOnRugby, they managed to make the most of the occasion.
So all in all a match to forget for Leinster fans, and I'm pretty confident it won't be long forgotten.
The many youngsters given starting opportunities will no doubt have benefitted from the occasion. I was particularly interested to see young Jordan Coughlan lining out at 12 – he's normally a back row and it shows that Schmidt is trying every option he can in that position for the new season, we'll see who he chooses to play Sale next weekend.
One thing's for sure...the coaches who are preparing to face Leinster competitively in September won't have read anything into this result! JLP
PS : Follow this link for a rant I wrote last January on the need for a Leinster Rugby radio station…could have had many a listener last Saturday I reckon!
