Leinster-34 Glasgow-12

Click here for the full set of matchday photos from Ken Bohane

LEINST WE FORGET

It probably, scratch that - it DEFINITELY goes without saying that this was a satisfying victory for Leinster fans.

Not only was there a major trophy on offer but it was the final farewell for two of the province's most legendary figures.

But for me the satisfaction did not come near to ending there.

This has been a curious season for Leinster Rugby to say the very least. Going into Saturday's final, when you look at the raw stats over the time dating back to that opening day demolition of the Scarlets in Llanelli, you'd see a record in all competitions that any provincial team would envy...played 30, won 23, drawn 1, lost 6.

Yet the thrust of all the commentary around the game was such that Leinster, and by association first-season coach Matt O'Connor, would be considered failures should they fall short against the Glasgow Warriors on the last day in May.

I suppose when you have the amount of success Leinster have enjoyed in recent seasons, that's a fair enough call. Still though...when you consider that the bulk of the criticism in this campaign stems from two defeats in particular over the course of the season, one at home to Northampton and one in Toulon, both of whom went on to win a brace of silverware themselves, you have to feel the bar was being set a tad high even for us.

So what was most satisfying for me about this result and performance was the fact that for all the talent and ability brought by the visitors, Leinster won fair and square on the day. No game-changing refereeing decisions, no lucky bounces of the ball, no reason for anyone to say “the better side lost”, a comment left on HarpinOnRugby social media channels after several Leinster victories this season.

First though, we must pay tribute to the visitors. Glasgow Warriors have done Scottish rugby proud throughout the season, they brought over a superb following on the day, and they most certainly belonged in the tournament's showpiece. In my preview I said the setting was similar to Leinster's 2009 Heineken Cup final only this time the roles were reversed...we were the ones with the big game experience and Glasgow the pretenders. In fact the Warriors even had a young out-half in Finn Russell who had come from nowhere to impress in the second half of the season, much as Sexton did back in Murrayfield.

Yet for all the consistency it took to get the Warriors to this big day, I think it's fair to say they just didn't have the extra 5% at key moments to take the chances when they had them. Hopefully the final margin of victory, which I will admit was somewhat unfair to the way the match went, won't deter them from regrouping for next year's challenge because there is no doubting that the Pro12 is a much better competition thanks to the achievements of Gregor Townsend & his staff in the past few seasons.

And when I talk about not having that extra 5%, it has to be said that it was up to Leinster to make them need it on the day, and I'd find it hard to fault anyone's performance in blue. In fact, not for the first time this season, I have absolutely no idea what the thinking was behind the awarding of Man of the Match...Sean Cronin has been a fine servant to Leinster of that there is no doubt, but I don't know what more you can do to earn the awards than score 2 tries and provide the final pass for the other 2?

“Zane Kirchner had a good role in the Fanning try but overall it wasn’t his best outing.  We have all said how he was never going to replace Isa and that is true but I don’t think it’s too much to expect at least one man-of-the-match display from him before the season is out. “

I penned that in my writeup for (ironically) our last meeting with Glasgow back at the beginning of March (another one we should have lost apparently), and I believe that although there were fine displays from several players including Gopperth, Ruddock, Reddan, McFadden, Rob Kearney, Madigan and yes even Cronin, Kirchner saved his best outing for last and deserved the gong in my humble opinion.

But let us not forget that this match was still very much a contest going into the final quarter, and much like our playoff win over Ulster, the key moments came between the 55th and 60th minutes.

With the score a mere 14-12 to the home side Rob Kearney connected with a clearance from within his own 22 a bit too well and it went out over the far end line, resulting in a scrum to Glasgow in what was to say the least a great attacking position. But with the clock heading towards 60 as it was the scrum gave the teams and officials a chance to regroup.

Glasgow took the opportunity to finally replace their tight head Jon Welsh who had been absolutely destroyed all day by Cian Healy. I'm not sure how legal Church's sets were (on the call of “bind” he seemed to place his head around his opponent's belly button) but I didn't see Welsh nor his captain complaining so I guess it was ok? Anyway...like I always say we best leave such matters between the front rows where they belong!

The point was...this was a crucial scrum and even though the clock was stopped as the subs came on (including no less a figure than Sean O'Brien by the way) and referee Nigel Owens took a sip of water, every passing moment must have made it more and more clear in Glasgow's heads that this could well be “now or never” time.

The Warriors had some impact subs of their own...most notably in the form of Fijians Nakarawa and Matawalu. The former is a giant back rower whom I call “The Octopus” for the way no matter how he is tackled he always seems to have an extra arm or two free to attempt a cheeky offload. It definitely worked against Glasgow that an injury to Fusaro meant he came on early and Leinster were bang wide to his unconventional decisions by the final quarter.

Then there was Matawalu, who although half the size of Nakarawa has twice the desire to do the unexpected. Glasgow needed to roll the dice, and having won the scrum and worked the phases to get within another sniff of the Leinster line, the stage was set for Matawalu to get over.

But such was the way the famed 15-headed blue monster that is the Leinster defence had frustrated the visitors all day, that final yard or two proved elusive and the sub scrum half reached for the line when he really had no right to and knocked it on...then despite the relatively small area behind the RDS try-line, Leinster had the audacity to chuck the ball out wide and before you could say “see you Jimmy!”, Gopperth was surging down the pitch and eventually it was a 5m scrum way down the other end, which in turn led to a penalty, and the lead was stretched to 5.

In the space of just 5 minutes on the clock, Glasgow got their answer to the “now or never” question and it wasn't the one they wanted.

Of course I couldn't let the writeup go without mentioning the four Leinster tries, all of which were fit to grace any major final. Crossing the whitewash on big occasions has been an area where we have struggled, but one word you can definitely use to describe our offence all season is “patient”, and when it mattered on Saturday we had the ability to keep control through the phases before both finding and exploiting the gaps when they appeared, and as I have already mentioned Kirchner was heavily involved in all four, with Jennings and Darcy also chipping in.

But despite all the 5-pointers it was the superiority in Leinster’s defence which won this contest for me. When Matt O'Connor took the reins, he made no secret of the fact that this was a priority for him. Despite all the success last season, we were a tad shaky without the ball and I firmly believe in any team sport it is in defence where you should get things right first.

And for all the criticism he has copped throughout the year, he has stuck with the winning formula and nit-pick at individual performances all you want...this season has been better than last. Remember...we can't go by trophy count since there's a reason we weren't in the Amlin this time around!!!

Finally I get to mention the two retiring heroes. So much has been written about their “long goodbyes” all season (by myself included) that I'm sure both Brian & Leo can forgive me for leaving it so late in my writeup to mention them.

But as sad and stunning as it was to see BOD go off after only 8 minutes (has that EVER happened?), it was also in some ways fitting...his last act in professional rugby was to run full pelt to try and charge down a clearance for his team despite being injured. Not much more I can add to that to show the man’s dedication.

And as for Leo, I had to laugh watching back the RTE coverage as Donal Lenihan remarked that the Leinster fans didn't seem to know Cullen had taken the field...clearly the chants of “Leeee-o, Leeee-o” hadn't tipped him off. He won us a penalty at a key moment and got busy with his usual sterling work around the breakdown area. Again, a fitting way to end such a successful career.

Still...this great day could not be just about them. Let us not forget the other 44 players involved, the officials, the sell-out crowd, in fact the much-maligned league itself. Hopefully the Welsh regions watching this final, played as it was shortly after the Premiership one, will find some comfort that they are in a league with a much higher standard of entertaining rugby – at least the difference was glaringly obvious to this blogger.

Next season will see many changes...a new sponsor for this league, a new format for Europe and the start of the serious countdown to RWC2015.

But will anything change my support and appreciation for Leinster Rugby? I think not. Many thanks to all involved at the province....yet another job extremely well done. JLP

Click here for post-match reaction on the HarpinOnRugby Facebook page

Also this weekend

Premiership Final : Saracens 20 - 24 Northampton Saints

Top 14 Final : Toulon 18 - 10 Castres

Leinster-28 Glasgow-25

[update May 28, 2014 - This week’s trip into the archives brings us to Glasgow’s last visit to Dublin in March.  But for a dodgy late decision to take 3pts, they could have won.  The time before that when they were here, it was a missed conversion by Stuart Hogg which denied them.  Will it be third time lucky for them this Saturday?]

HIGH ASSEMBLY

 On Saturday evening members and supporters of an organisation known for their blue shirts and a fondness for Europe assembled at the Royal Dublin Society in Ballsbridge. 

And not only were Leinster Rugby playing, there was also the Fine Gael Ard Fheis.  Boom-boom.

Sorry for the political reference; I know it should never mix with sport but hey - if I’m going to have to put up with a crazy 8:30pm kickoff time just because the Taoiseach is making a speech, I should at least be able to get a joke out of it even if it isn’t very good one!

Not much to complain about here for the neutral - two teams in playoff contention trading the lead back and forth with the result in doubt right to the very end.  And as a Leinster fan I’m certainly not complaining about Glasgow’s decision to take the three with a pen right in front with 5m left on the clock, but it’s still something I can’t wrap my head around and proved to be crucial in the result.

Maybe if I write down what the situation was at the time it will make more sense? 

Glasgow were 6 points down having had the lead taken off them twice by the home side.  They had already scored three tries on the night against the reigning champs, though Leinster’s first-up tackling had improved immensely in the final quarter and it was getting more and more difficult to get into our 22 as the match wore on.

I have to assume they wouldn’t be playing for a draw, so by kicking the 3 and little time left they must have felt they had the ability to score another try.  So why not take advantage of that ability now and make our defence hold them out from 5 metres?

Then there’s the simple mathematics.  When you’re down by 6 you stand to win one bonus point.  When you’re down by 3 you still stand to win one bonus point.  Even if they scored a try and it wasn’t converted leading to a 1pt defeat, it would have meant a second bonus point to bring home to Glasgow.

Nope, spelling it out doesn’t make it appear to give it any more sense.  I’m not saying Glasgow would have definitely scored a try from inside our 22, but going for it would have at least tired out the home defence…instead we had a chance to have a breather and regroup and we STILL had a 3-point cushion.  They got that badly wrong IMO.

Time to go back over the first 75 minutes and see how that lead was built.  I predicted a low-scoring encounter but I fell victim to the old adage about lies & statistics.  A super line from deep by Noel Reid got him all the way to the try-line after just 5 minutes capping off an excellent day for Clontarf RFC.

But we all knew it would take a lot more than that to put these Warriors down.  Give them an inch and with their super-quick ball-handling they know how to finish; when Ruaridh Jackson spotted Jack McGrath was shaping to tackle he turned on the jets and blew by him putting in his centre Richie Vernon over to level the scores.  Just 11m on the clock, two converted tries over already making a mockery out of my preview.

Leinster have a good habit at the RDS of waking up and getting a score soon after conceding and shortly afterwards it was 10-7, but then a missed Darragh Fanning tackle in midfield got the Warriors into our scramble defence again and though this time we stopped them at our 5m line they were relentless in their phases and once again it was Vernon crashing over to make it 10-12 as the conversion was missed.

Once more we nicked back the lead with a pen down the other end and then added another shortly afterwards but it was a needless punch in the ruck by flanker James Eddie that cost Glasgow the most in the first half - Zane Kirchner had just kicked out on the full and rather than have an attacking lineout they had to endure more pressure deep in their own half.

That pressure eventually led to Darragh Fanning going over in the corner thanks to some quick passing from his backline and although a late penalty reduced the lead back to 6, the margin was about right based on what had transpired.

The two sides traded handling errors early in the second half but I reckon we had our own case of bad decision making on 45m when Ian Madigan decided to take a high-risk grubber 22 drop out which only works if your side retrieves the ball…instead it was deflected back to his own side by winger Niko Matawalu who ironically got the put-down for the 3rd Glasgow try a few minutes later after some more intense pressure on the Leinster D.

Luckily for the home fans, we were able dig deep a third time though on this occasion we had to take the low road.  Another good burst from Reid got us into the 22  and we won a pen where we backed ourselves with the lineout/maul option.  Glasgow attacked it ferociously and managed somehow to hold us up over the line.

Then we were into a series of scrums and it was at this set-piece where I feel we managed to gain the edge.  If anything it was a bit cheeky of us to be able to call on someone with the experience of Mike Ross from the bench at this time of the year and in this series of scrums he was too good for the Warriors’ sub loosehead Yanuyanutawa (I didn’t even have to research that spelling as I remember it from when his try beat us back in September).

Jordi Murphy showed another strong side to his game as he displayed more than once his ability to keep the ball at his feet at the back of a scrum driving forward, a rarely-appreciated number 8 skill these days I find.  Though our third try from Ruddock didn’t come directly off one of those scrums, it was shortly after and with another Madigan conversion our six-point cushion was restored.

Full credit to the Warriors in that their heads never looked like dropping - though no doubt Gregor Townsend will point to some missed tackles much as Matt O’Connor will, the only real fault I can find with their performance was that late decision to take the three as I mentioned earlier.  Without it the result could have been very different.

As it turned out Leinster were able to sort out their tackling issues and Ruddock forced a midfield turnover after the restart when it was 28-25 and the offence were able to bring home the victory old-school-Munster-style with a series of about 20 phases.

Man of the match was awarded to Darragh Fanning.  I think he has done immensely well for us this season and definitely has a future at the RDS but I have to be a stickler and say I disagree with that decision.  When your team’s biggest flaw on the night is missed tackles, someone who did one of the more noticeable ones shouldn’t get the accolade.

I thought our backrow was superb throughout - Murphy at the scrum, Ruddock with his carries, Jennings had a good 60m shift on the tackling side of things, and Dominic Ryan caused some mischief in his cameo.

Madigan lost points with me for that 22 but I though overall it was a good display from him…McFadden was relatively quiet but it was a rare outing at 13 and he made some good hits. 

Zane Kirchner had a good role in the Fanning try but overall it wasn’t his best outing.  We have all said how he was never going to replace Isa and that is true but I don’t think it’s too much to expect at least one man-of-the-match display from him before the season is out.

My top man from the night was Noel Reid.  Scored a try, had a hand in another, forced a turnover or two.  My tickets for the Leinster A v Munster A B&I Cup quarterfinal arrived during the week and I remember giving Reid an awful time of it when he played outhalf at the semifinal stage of that comp a couple of years ago.  Since then he has progressed well and is definitely a solid option for us at 12.

Overall this definitely was a good advert for a league which has been much-maligned in recent times.  The Pro12 table is building up to an interesting finish with five sides still chasing the four playoff spots, a race emerging for what could be a 6th spot with a Heineken Cup place attached, and down at the bottom, the Italian Euro spot may even be up for grabs in the final rounds as Zebre completed the season double over Cardiff to get closer to Treviso.

It was definitely a night of rugby that helped take our minds off the impending sad farewells at the Palindrome next Saturday, not to mention the political shenanigans going on at the other end of the RDS complex. Oh yeah, and Leinster are back on top of the table. Good results all round for me! JLP

Click here for the post-match response on the HarpinOnRugby Facebook page

 

Also this weekend

Ulster 38 - 8 Dragons

Edinburgh 31 - 25 Ospreys

Zebre 15 - 10 Cardiff Blues

Connacht 38 - 6 Benetton Treviso

Scarlets 18 - 13 Munster

	TEAM	PLD	PTS	W	PD	T	PF	TD
1	LEINSTER	16	59	12	118	39	387	13
2	MUNSTER	16	58	13	159	40	397	23
3	ULSTER	15	50	11	109	30	306	14
4	OSPREYS	16	46	9	122	42	411	19
5	GLASGOW	14	43	10	32	24	252	9
6	SCARLETS	15	36	7	-10	27	283	-1
7	NG DRAGONS	15	28	6	-42	21	260	-5
8	EDINBURGH	14	28	6	-55	24	261	-9
9	CONNACHT	16	27	5	-65	24	247	-4
10	CARDIFF BLUES	16	24	4	-99	21	305	-18
11	TREVISO	15	20	3	-129	19	256	-28
12	ZEBRE	16	18	3	-140	25	246	-13

 

Next fixtures

 

Fri Mar 14 

 

Ulster v Scarlets, 7:05pm

 

Fri Mar 21 

 

Ospreys v Cardiff Blues, 7:05pm

 

Leinster v Zebre, 7:15pm

 

Edinburgh v Ulster, 7:45pm

 

Sat Mar 22

 

Glasgow v Scarlets, 6:30pm

 

Munster v Treviso, 7:15pm

 

Sun Mar 23

 

NG Dragons v Connacht, 3:05pm

Glasgow-12 Leinster-6

THE PRO-AM 12

As this ridiculous media war rages on over the Heineken Cup I reckon it's important for the Celtic & Italian clubs to at least try and find some moral high ground.

The best way to do that is to first look at their own product critically before putting forward a defence against the onslaught of information about this new Franco-English tournament, which I swear will have its opening fixtures before this Christmas the way they're carrying on.

It all depends on how we choose to spin it...we could look at the table and say “hey...Glasgow are in first place and Zebre not only got their first win this weekend but it was also on foreign soil...things can't be that bad for the Scots & Italians?”, but anyone who has followed the Celtic/Magners/Rabo over the years would surely know that is far from the real picture.

I'd be more inclined to point out that although two of them were victorious, all four teams that made the Pro12 playoffs last season were well below par last weekend and if we insist on being in denial of that, then we may find ourselves without a leg to stand on if and when actual meaningful discussions take place over the future of pan-European rugby.

When I suggested by way of a tweet on Saturday evening that Ulster were poor in their victory against Connacht I took a bit of stick, but I still stand by it. Same goes for Glasgow...they celebrated their win over Leinster almost as much as the Scots did after their triumph in Newcastle over the Wallabies (all that was missing was the head clash).

Sure, it was a victory over the three-time European and reigning Pro12 champions, definitely not a bad achievement on paper. But my point is that if we want to consider ourselves as equals to the Toulons and the Clérmonts, even though we can't match them for salaries, we can at least expect a certain standard, and in my opinion last weekend's fare fell well below it.

Maybe it looks like I'm avoiding criticising my Leinster lads for the way we played? Far from it. Plenty of time for that in this writeup.

Actually it's the fact that we were so poor that makes my point for me. On 79 minutes in Scotstoun, despite allowing the hosts to practically walk into our 22 at least half a dozen times in the final quarter alone, we actually had a decent chance to snatch this game just as the Warriors had done to Ulster a week before. That, for me anyway, says it all.

But as it turned out justice was done and somehow Aaron Dundon failed to find Devin Toner with his lineout throw and the chance, our only decent one in the entire second half I might add, was gone.

To go back to Glasgow for a moment, please don't get me wrong, they were worthy winners on Friday and deserve to sit atop the league as they have been the best team over the three rounds. All I'm saying is that while I can see why Woody Harrelson Gregor Townsend would be singing the praises of his team to Warriors TV right after the match, he must surely have some questions to answer during the week.

At the very least, he has to wonder how he let Leinster away with a bonus point, one that could be significant come season's end. For that he must look at his side's dismal place-kicking, with Hogg, Bennett and Jackson combining for a 1 for 7 haul. And from what I have seen, it seems to be a pattern, what with last season's try bonus v Ulster with the minimum 20pts plus that last-gasp conversion miss against us in May.

But if the standards I'm talking about are to be attained, they must also look at those numerous appearances in Leinster's 22 and ask themselves why they didn't at least give themselves a shot at the try bonus on the night.

Anyway, enough about Glasgow. Time to reluctantly look at my lot.

This stat speaks volumes...our top tackler was Dominic Ryan, who although managed a whopping 16 in a little over a half, was the guy who let sub prop Yanuyanutawa get away from him for what turned out to be the game-winning try.

If you showed me this match and pixelated over the player's faces, I'd have sworn blind that it wasn't Leinster, right from the very off. On our first decent possession from a lineout Shane Jennings of all people hacks the ball forward when he could easily have set up some early attacking phases. I'm not necessarily saying that's a stupid tactic, it's just not something Leinster do, and he apologised for it afterwards as it went harmlessly over the Warriors tryline.

But it was on defence where we struggled most. The organisation that has become a trademark over the years under Cheika and Schmidt, and even has been visible at times under O'Connor, was left back in Dublin. It was as though that memory-wiping stick from the Men In Black movies was flashed in our dressing room before kickoff and we had no idea what was meant by pillar, post or the importance of the first-hit tackler.

Sometimes it seemed as though the Warriors players stopped and looked at each other to see if the wide open gaps before them were because of the referee's whistle before they sailed through for yet another gain. And maybe we did improve the closer the home team got to our line (with the exception of Ryan that one time and Mike Ross in the lead up the first try from Fusaro) but again I point to the standards...they should not have gotten there so easily in the first place.

Now it's not as though there weren't mitigating factors for the Pro12 champions...just once this season I'd like to see the XV that is named during the week to still be on the pitch after half an hour..is that too much to ask? We have become masters of the last-minute change over the last year or two. And when we already have a shortage of back-three players, for first Fanning to pull out and then his replacement Lote Tuqiri to do a hammer, it really looks like our luck is out.

And that injury to the rugby league convert must have been most frustrating to Ian Madigan. Although he started at full-back, the presence of Rob Kearney on the bench must have meant he was scheduled to move to out-half early in the second period, yet that option was taken away. And given that the core of the side has been very much the same over the three weeks and we had a six-day turnaround, I'm sure Matt O'Connor had fixed plans to use his bench in the second half which were scuppered.

Of course it didn't help much that our skipper Jennings had another dose of misfortune in doing what seemed to be his wrist just after his thoroughly-deserved callup back into the Ireland squad.

Then there was the scrums. Oh, dear Lord, Peter Fitzgibbon what on earth were you doing? Don't worry...this isn't to get Leinster off the hook...he was equally shambolic in calling it for both sides. I don't like dissing the ref but it really seemed as though Fitzgibbon was missing the point about these new scrum laws. Instead of calling early penalties with a view to having proper scrums by the end, we had a lottery at each and every put in. Not sure it influenced the result that much on the night, but it's something he'll have to look at for the future.

But allow me to be clear...I am in no way making excuses. If Glasgow and Ulster were below par, Leinster were lower again, and although 8 points is a decent Pro12 haul for us after 3 rounds given Septembers past, the trend of our performances is going in the wrong direction and the coming week will be the first real test of Matt O'Connor's stewardship.

For the visit of the Cardiff Blues this coming Friday we need a few things...

• a fair amount of changes to the lineup, whether it's bringing back Lions, players returning from injury or even a light sprinkling of academy players.
• Root-and-branch examination of the defensive structures. A DVD session with much singling people out (no matter who they are) is in order, complete with a vocabulary more likely to be found on the Sopranos than on Songs of Praise.
• Finally although this of course isn't in our control, we'll need a squad from the Welsh capital that is prepared to come to Dublin and actually engage, something that hasn't happened in a while either in domestic or European competition. Maybe the Zebre experience will be a wake up call for them.

Look...as poor and all a display as this was, I'm not going to let it get me down, at least not now. With Dublin winning the All-Ireland, my Oakland A's clinching the AL West and Spurs second in the Premier League after yet another clean sheet on Sunday, I'm a lot more glass-half-full now than I was last Friday night.

We came away from a tough place to go with a losing bonus. Let's be thankful for that. And let's get our issues sorted quickly because Munster, Ospreys and Castres aren't likely to let us away with similar in October.

As for the league itself, despite my dislike for the McCafferty's of this world, based on what I saw last weekend they do have a point, especially when it comes to resting players. No disrespect to either the Dragons or Zebre for their successes this season indeed fair play to them, but the top perennial Pro12 finishers seem to view September as a continuation of the pre-season and never mind how unfair that is on the French and English clubs, the fans who pay just as much for the tickets now as they do in April deserve better. JLP

Also this weekend

Dragons 23 - 16 Scarlets

Benetton Treviso 29 - 19 Munster

Cardiff Blues 25 - 30 Zebre

Ospreys 44 - 10 Edinburgh

Connacht 7 - 18 Ulster

	TEAM	PLD	PTS	W	PD	T	PF	TD
1	GLASGOW	3	12	3	14	4	47	4
2	OSPREYS	3	11	2	39	10	97	5
3	MUNSTER	3	10	2	23	12	96	6
4	NG DRAGONS	3	9	2	11	3	51	0
5	LEINSTER	3	8	1	17	8	77	3
6	ULSTER	3	6	1	3	3	38	1
7	CARDIFF BLUES	3	6	1	-1	1	61	-4
8	TREVISO	3	5	1	-11	4	58	-3
9	SCARLETS	3	5	1	-14	4	61	-4
10	CONNACHT	3	4	1	-13	5	42	2
11	ZEBRE	3	4	1	-26	6	67	-2
12	EDINBURGH	3	4	1	-42	4	49	-8

Next fixtures - Round 4

Friday, September 27

Zebre v Glasgow, Stadio XXV Aprile, 6:30pm

Ulster v Benetton Treviso, Ravenhill, 7:05pm

Edinburgh v Scarlets, Murrayfield, 7:35pm

Leinster v Cardiff Blues, Royal Dublin Society, 7:35pm

Saturday, September 28

Connacht v Ospreys, Galway Sportsground, 5pm

Munster v Dragons, Musgrave Park, 6:45pm

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

Also this weekend

RaboPRO12 semifinal

Ulster 28 - 17 Scarlets

Premiership semifinals

Leicester Tigers 33 - 16 Harlequins

Saracens 13 - 27 Northampton Saints

Top 14 playoffs

Toulouse 33 - 19 Racing Metro

Castres 25 - 12 Montpellier