There was much about Saturday evening at the RDS that just wasn’t quite as normal.
First of all, I had absolutely no hassles getting there on time via the 18 bus. That alone was a sign.
Then we had the weather. There has been many a cold snap at the ground over the years, but on this occasion the chill somehow had a way of creeping under your layers and getting to you in places you’d rather not be mentioning in blog posts.
On the pitch, there was a rugby match where one team built an early lead only to be worn down and defeated by the opposition…not an unusual sight for Irish rugby fans of late only in this case, it was the Irish team that did the wearing down.
And of course last but not least there was Ian Madigan’s barnet.
I have a simple rule regarding unusual hair-styles, socks around the ankles, coloured boots, in fact anything out of the ordinary for a player of team sports…do it all you want, but if you draw that kind of attention to yourself, you’d better produce a performance to justify it.
With all of Leinster's points on a night that returned us to the top of the Pro12 table, I reckon he just about managed it.
In any team sport you of course want all your players to be able to perform the basic technical duties of their respective positions. However at the highest level that isn't enough, because the very fact that they are called “basics” means your opponents are going to have a fair idea on how you're going to approach a game.
But how can your opposition know what you're going to do if you don't know yourself until you find yourself in a given position? Every team needs at least one player like that, and on Saturday night Leinster had Ian Madigan.
Before we examine his man-of-the-match display, however, let's look at the “x-factor guy” on the Glasgow side, namely Niko Matawalu, or as I call him, the “Weegie from Fiji”™. He was at the centre of everything the Warriors did going forward...sniping runs around the fringes, no-look passes, he even took on Devin Toner at one point.
He is definitely a key player for them, but sadly the only thing you could fault him on was the one thing you need from his position...many of his basic passes from rucks and mauls were simply awful. I wasn't scratching my head when he was taken off at the 60m mark...they still had the lead at that point and needed the simple things done by then.
Still, the visitors have to be commended for the way they built their lead. They certainly had no fear of the famed Leinster defence, that's for sure. We have built our success around our ability to hold teams out once organised, but what Glasgow did was take full advantage of those brief moments when we tried to get organised and with some innovative offloads here, and some deft touchline footwork there, they got themselves two first-half tries and a lead at the break.
But a series of penalties down the other end allowed Leinster to get back into it, and many felt the five-point cushion wasn't enough, which meant the battle was on for the first important score of the second period.
And what a battle that was. Glasgow were virtually camped in our half for the entire third quarter, but were denied by a combination of us finding our mojo and more than a smidgeon of luck on our own part.
That luck I'm talking about brings me to Mr Ian “Mad-dog” Madigan. After forcing a knock-on close to our own line we had the scrum advantage so Boss passed back to Nacewa who had no time so he scooped it on to Madigan who had even less time under his own posts. Whether he had the advantage or not I can only think of one other out-half in world rugby who would have attempted the “dink” at that moment (clue...he plays for the Reds & Wallabies) but it came off for him and he was able to dig us out of the hole.
And if you really wanted to fault him you could say he was greedy when not passing to Sean Cronin when he was wide open...but given he had just sprinted a good 50m I think we can let him off for not being able to position himself at full tilt for what needed to be a strong pass to get it there.
If anything demonstrated what you get with Madigan it was the first of his successful 6 placekicks. All of them were from relatively easy positions (an exception being the one before the half but none were at the touchline) yet for his first, which came right after Glasgow's opening try, he had to re-place the ball and rush his kick and still split the uprights.
Then of course we eventually had his match-winning try, which was yet another example of how he backs himself to succeed. Not everything was perfect from him on the night, but when you look at his display as a whole you see the sheer force of will to win that emanated from him...though on a lesser scale, it was very similar to Sexton's miracle in Cardiff.
But we couldn't have gotten this result without more sterling efforts around the park...the Munster-bound Andrew Conway put in several key contributions both with and without the ball, for example.
In the pack, Jennings had a key snaffle right after our try that sent us back down the pitch and eventually allowed us to stretch the lead to 5, while our substitute props deserve a mention for excellent cameos...Jamie Hagan made up for giving away a soft penalty by forcing a turnover shortly afterwards while loosehead Jack McGrath was excellent for some vital scrums towards the end
On the negative side for Leinster, the Warriors' proficiency around the breakdown made it a long night for our back row, and the missed tackle count seemed to be higher for them than most. And as for Quinn Roux...I haven't fully researched this yet but I have to asked...has he EVER played a full 80 minutes at senior level? He certainly hasn't for Leinster and while I know he's had rotten luck with injuries we can't make a verdict on the youngster until he has had a run of games, and with so many big contests coming up I have to wonder if that will happen.
And not for the first time this season, anyone who left the RDS early missed out because the result was in question literally to the final whistle...we looked on from the grandstand in disbelief as right in front of us David Kearney allowed Sean Lamont to receive a pass unchallenged to cross the line but thankfully he knew Nigel had deemed it to have gone forward and the win was ours.
Closer than was comfortable for Leinster, but given the 8-game winning streak that proceeded it that came with little resistance, it was a timely wake up call for the battles ahead. Those Ulstermen don't often get much out of us in Dublin but there's not doubt they'll be up for it on Saturday night in what should be a cracking derby.
There's lot of life left in this season yet, and with Sexton out of the picture until May, and Madigan can continue to deliver then the Leinster faithful will forgive the frightening follicles. JLP
Also this weekend…
Benetton Treviso 26 - 17 Cardiff Blues
