HARPIN' ON RUGBY: Leinster-17 Glasgow-15

[update Feb 26, 2014 - with Glasgow coming to Ballsbridge this weekend, for our weekly dip into the HoR archives we go back to just last May when but for a gust of wind our treble hopes could have been dashed. I also probably let the social media Leinster-bashing I get most weekends affect me more than I should for this match, but let’s just say the trophies that came to the RDS in the following weeks helped me get over it! JLP]

HOGG THWARTS

On the scoreboard, had Stuart Hogg’s conversion of Mark Bennett’s try gone over, the scores would have been level. But in RaboPro12 knockout world, it would have actually edged the Warriors ahead since they had two tries to our one.

Sure, they would have had to hold Leinster out for the remaining four minutes, and then again for a further two ten-minute extra time periods, but they had already done a pretty good job of keeping at bay a Leinster side that averaged 35 pts per game since these two last met, so it was always on the cards.

But the kick did not go over.

Normally I would make this writeup all about the excellence of the squad that ~~Woody Harrelson~~ Gregor Townsend has assembled, because it’s true, they really put it up to the European champions. Excellent defence, even better offloading when it came to getting the ball from 22 to 22, and twice, clinical finishing. They most certainly did everything they could to get themselves into a position to win this one and reach their first ever major final.

But the kick did not go over.

Sorry I feel the need to say it twice (and, just to warn you, a third time later on), but the reactions on social media and the press to this match and result make me feel compelled to outline what actually happened in Ballsbridge on Saturday evening.

“Leinster sneaked home”, “The better side lost”, “The ref was a homer” are all things I would expect from the visiting players, coaches, media & fans, and it would most certainly be forgiven as these are the responses we all offer when our team has played valiantly but fallen short. But what got me was that these were claims being made by Irish fans.

It put me in mind of the retiring Glaswegian Sir Alex Ferguson and the culture of success he built over his 26 years at Old Trafford. The evolution of the acronym “ABU” in popular football folklore is as much a testament to his achievements as anything else. Let’s face it, when a team keeps winning, fans of other teams don’t like it.

Personally, I don’t mind that. There should be a healthy rivalry among fans IMO, even from the same country. Perhaps even a little begrudgery now and again.

But the prevailing message, in Irish rugby anyway, is meant to be that the provinces support each other against foreign foes, at least that is the impression I have been given.

So after the feedback I was getting from several non-Leinster fans on Saturday night, I reckon we need to ask ourselves the question…which way do we want it?

Any excuse was being taken to have a pop at Leinster on the “twitter machine”…most amusingly over the home attendance, which was admittedly poor by RDS standards (shy of 14k), but despite all the extremely unoriginal references to the wealth in the Ballsbridge area, it’s a big ask for fans to shell out for home matches on five weekends in a row. Even I, a fervent Leinster fan & blogger, can’t be 100% sure I’m in a position to go to both upcoming finals.

It’s just that when a team has success, is there some unwritten rule that their fans are supposed to keep quiet about it? Sure, there’s a line to be crossed when it comes to rubbing the opposition’s noses in it, but you’d have a hard time proving that more than a tiny minority of Leinster fans do it (though of course I concede that it is also a minority who do the most vocal begrudging).

But if there must be a growing “ABL” element in Irish rugby, so be it. It most certainly won’t dampen the spirits of Leinster fans as we celebrate the fruits of all the hard work of Joe Schmidt & his team over the past few years.

Now…to the action itself…was it a vintage Leinster display? Absolutely not. Literally from the kickoff we were making mistakes – Devin Toner is meant to be our “go-to” guy on restarts but although the evening sun was behind it, he would be expected to judge his jumping height better than he did and it forced Nacewa into a knockon – not exactly the ideal start when you know your opposition is looking for any little advantage.

In my preview I said this was exactly what we didn’t want on the night :

“…all it takes are a couple of knockons and/or an unfavourable referee’s decision or two and this could go south very quickly.”

Barely two minutes were on the clock when Jonathan Sexton gave us our second knock-on, and just three minutes later, Kevin McLoughlin did it again.

But while Niko Matawalu, easily the Warriors’ talisman as expected, was extremely clever with his dummy and dive over the line to secure the game’s opening try, it had taken them 14 minutes to do it despite all the mistakes Leinster were making.

And for me, it was this failure to capitalise quickly on the home side’s errors that caused the result…not luck, not poor reffing, not general injustice.

Because it’s not as though the Warriors were without their own mistakes. The knockon gremlins were at them as well, they had lineout issues (not as often as we did, granted) and once or twice they were a little over eager to gain an advantage over our strong defence.

That last point was never more so illustrated by the needless penalty conceded by Peter Horne as the game ticked into its final quarter.

Leinster’s 1-point lead, which lasted for half an hour on the game clock, was precarious to say the least. We had just been rightly called back for an Isaac Boss forward pass to Andrew Conway, but from the resulting scrum, Horne was being used as a decoy runner yet rather than stand and face his man (in this case Boss) he turned and threw his shoulder into the scrum-half. This is often not seen, but in this case it was, and moments later Sexton was stretching the lead to four and is it turned out, it was enough.

Not long afterwards, Moray Low failed to bind on Jamie Hagan - it was yet another costly mistake and the presumptive Lions starting outhalf (who’s placekicks often struggled with the same swirling wind that ultimately did for Hogg) made no mistake from the halfway line, 17-10 to Leinster.

And fair play to Glasgow…needing a converted try in the final ten minutes at the home of one of Europe’s most successful ever franchises is a task most would fear, but not these aptly-named Warriors. Much like the Ospreys the previous weekend they threw the kitchen sink at us and eventually our home defence relented as Bennett crashed over and it seemed the momentum had swung to the visitors for good.

But the kick did not go over.

It had been a fine display by Leinster without the ball, mostly up to the usual standards…BOD forcing a “holding after tackle” call in the opening minutes, Jennings doing similar before halftime, Kearney holding up Ryan Grant after he crashed over the line, Healy executing a perfect “rip tackle” in his own 22 (before throwing a few digs in the resulting ruck I’ll admit).

And this sterling defence came despite our being denied our marquee centre pairing for the bulk of the match…Leinster fans will be sweating on BOD & Darce’s fitness reports today.

The Hogg miss gave us the boost we needed to endure the visitors’ final onslaught, and while there may have been a bit of exhaustion and frustration for Glasgow thrown in to the mix, it has to be said Leinster were ferocious in those final minutes and eventually it was a Matawalu knockon forced by Jack McGrath that gave us the opportunity to clear.

And ironically it was man-of-the-match Jamie Heaslip who ended the contest by holding the ball in at the back of the scrum forcing a penalty. He got our only try in the first half as a result of a super lineout & maul (the only time a set-piece move really paid off for us) and in the absence of Sean O’Brien, slotted into his ball-carrying role with the same vigour he has shown in recent weeks.

As for referee Pascal Gauzere, he didn’t have his best night it’s true, but anyone who thinks his incompetence favoured the home side needs to either look at themselves, or the match again.

My question would be…what was he doing there at all??? It’s a league semifinal, and should be reffed by someone who knows the league. I understand if we want to spread officials around the major domestic competitions but that should be done during the regular season. The ref could easily have been Welsh, and it didn’t even have to be Nigel Owens.

It is of course vital for the RaboDirectPRO12’s future that Treviso can amass 50 league points and that Glasgow can maintain a level of consistency that would be worthy of the championship itself, let alone a Grand Final appearance. And you can be sure Coach of the Year Townsend & co will be back at the top next season - nobody will fancy drawing them in their Heineken Cup pool either.

But much as Leinster did against Quins in 2009, and Clermont in both 2010 & 2012, we took our points when it counted, while our opposition did not. And if any other team had been in the position we found ourselves in last December and gotten to the one we’re in now, they would surely be roundly applauded.

Now the Leinster squad must split in two for simultaneous finals this Friday and then the club season will finally draw to a close for what will be an unusual RDS atmosphere as the Ulstermen will take over, deservedly I might add. I wonder how neutral fans of Munster & Connacht are going to feel that day – I have a feeling they might just join in the chants of SUFTUM for the duration ;-)

Were we to win all three, it may not be a treble of “Fergie 1999” proportions (and we will definitely have to iron out all the kinks we showed on Saturday to have a hope) but you can’t deny it would be quite the achievement. And an Irish achievement to boot. JLP