Munster-9 Leinster-18

BENCH-MARK

Simon Zebo received the opening kickoff – before this game I had visions of him having more than one opportunity to flash his trademark “Z” try celebration. As it turned out, the only z's on the night would come from the spectators!

As the saying goes, this “wasn't one for the purist” by any stretch, but it still struck me that both sides had clear gameplans which Joe Schmidt's men managed to execute more clinically and thus came out on top. Hopefully the onlooking Declan Kidney noticed that too.

For Leinster it seemed like the opening quarter was the time for trickery in order to manufacture a try to break the duck (which now stands at 299 minutes by the way) – there were barely two minutes on the clock when Sexton chipped forward to the corner where Rob Kearney couldn't manage to hold on and touch down. It would have been fitting for him to get it as he was the last blue player to score a try in Thomond almost exactly two years previous.

But it was uncanny...at almost exactly the moment the clock ticked over the twenty minute mark, unless a winger found himself in space out wide, the kicking game was taken off the table by the visiting side. It was either phases down the middle or more often than not lateral passing moves when they had the ball.

Munster also seemed to have a gameplan, and in my book it caused the most controversial feature of this game – Nigel Owens' handling of the scrums.

To call Marcus Horan a “wily prop” would be the understatement of the millennium. And of course everyone knew going into this contest that the home side was missing crucial players, so having seen how much Leinster struggled without Mike Ross and Nathan White the previous week, the best way to level the playing pitch would be to negate Ross' ability to lock the scrum.

Now before I carry on, I hope you appreciate the restraint I'm showing by avoiding all the obvious (if a tad inappropriate in some cases) jokes emanating from a female spectator roaring “C'mon Nigel make up your mind I'm getting frustrated here!” into a pitchside RTE mic at one point. Not easy I can tell you!

But back to matters rugby...yes, Nigel made a hames of the scrums. It took him 12 goes to get a clean feed without a need to reset. If he was guilty of anything, it was paying too much respect for the occasion rather than calling what he could see in front of him. If so, that's a shame to see from a ref who I'd normally fully expect to be able to handle a contest at this high a level.

He knew full well it was Horan that was playing “silly-beggars” but it was his decision to threaten both him and Ross with yellows together in the 11^th minute that was to set the tone for the rest of the match.

He even had a word with Horan personally at a later scrum. By rights the loosehead should have gone then, but as Owens had already warned the two of them, he probably felt it would give Leinster an “unfair” advantage in such a big match.

Instead he put the two props off at the start of the second half and it was during those ten minutes that Munster got three kickable penalties, and but for ROG missing one of them they could have actually had a lead to defend in the closing stages.

Now speaking of Munster's outhalf, it wasn't his best night at the office by a long stretch. A couple of missed penalties here, a dropped pass there...let's just say if Gordon D'Arcy had made as many mistakes on the night there would be calls for his head from both sets of fans.

But not so for O'Gara, and it's true he has for the most part played to his usual standard over the season. The point I want to make about this display is that it supports my theory that gifted though he may be, he has just never been captain material. With Mick O'Driscoll on the pitch I was surprised to see the outhalf get the nod and I really think it takes from his game.

Meanwhile his nemesis in blue was busy slotting his placekicks and executing the “non-kicking” gameplan while on offense – for the second and third quarters I don't think Sexton ever looked up once when he had the ball to see if there was space behind the Munster line.  The home side displayed a strong solid defence throughout that forced many a turnover, but Joe Schmidt's plan seemed to be to tire them out so he could capitalise with his bench in the final quarter and as it turned out it proved to be correct.

When O'Gara levelled the scores at 9-9 on 53 minutes, two key things happened – Mike Ross came back on the pitch from his yellow card, and also the likes of Leo Cullen and Sean O'Brien were introduced into the fray – they probably were due at the 60 minute mark but with McLaughlin already off it seemed logical to bring them in at that point.

From that moment on there was really only going to be one winner – Munster were still forcing turnovers but would then lose it in contact themselves, plus their lineout was an absolute shambles all evening. A deft chip & chase from Isa Nacewa, the first of his series of late contributions that got him man of the match, led to the penalty which Sexton easily converted before going off no doubt satisfied with his night's work.

He was replaced by Ian Madigan who has played well above his pay-grade all season and deserved a chance to play his part. I did feel he made a major error by taking that quick lineout in the opposition 22, despite Ralph Keyes' assertion that it was the “right option”. For Munster maybe! Leinster are up by 3, in Thomond Park, with just over 10 minutes left. I can't see any other call but to let the lineout form (especially since you've owned the set-piece all night) and eat up some more time with phases.

But the Blackrock outhalf was to more than make up for that rush of blood...first with the perfectly-executed crossfield kick to Nacewa and then with a win-clinching & bonus-point-denying dropgoal any outhalf in world rugby would have been proud of. I have heard talk that Mat Berquist is off to France next season – I really hope that Madigan is rewarded with a spot on the bench for the Heineken quarterfinal as he has definitely earned it.

Although this was a Pro12 contest, as always is the case when these two rivals meet each other, the question needs to be asked afterwards...how are the two shaping up for those European contests next weekend?

Well in Munster's case, I don't think they need be too disheartened by this performance. The way they played without crucial players like O'Connell, Murray and Ryan simply proved the wisdom in not risking them. Though Ulster will definitely feel they can equal Leinster's result, there is no doubt that those three will do more than fix the various problems Tony McGahan's men were having Saturday night.

As for Leinster, well all I can say is that I'm “quietly confident”. The Cardiff Blues have absolutely nothing to lose coming to Dublin next weekend so cannot be taken for granted, but there was enough evidence in this encounter (when the two sides were allowed to play rugby of course!) to suggest that Joe Schmidt & his coaching staff can come up with the right gameplan to get the job done. JLP

ALSO THIS WEEKEND

Mar 30, 2012

Ulster 45 - 7 Aironi

Dragons 19 - 27 Connacht

Glasgow 31 - 3 Cardiff Blues

Edinburgh 26 - 23 Scarlets

Mar 31, 2012

 Ospreys 41 - 10 Benetton Treviso

 

Leinster-22 Ospreys-23

Archive time here at HoR, and this week those pesky Ospreys come into town. We may have beaten them in our last encounter in May but I assure you, NO Leinster fan with a functioning memory bank will be taking them for granted this weekend.  Below is just one of several examples where they have hijacked us in the past, and what’s more we have them in (what could be our last ever) our Heineken Cup pool as well.

I say this in the piece but people on some forums don't seem to have noticed so I'll repeat it here...the above photos are merely to highlight the incidents in question, they aren't meant as irrefutable evidence.

TIGHT

When your team takes the lead in the first couple of minutes and doesn't relinquish it until the last few, it's bound to get your emotions running high. Particularly when it's a home game, and even more particularly when there's a long-running unbeaten streak on the line.

So the reactions of the Leinster fans after this one were quite predictable...first you had the more one-eyed protestations about botched TMO calls and unfortunate injuries, then later on you get the more pragmatic fans pouring scorn over the fact that a 13-point lead was allowed to evaporate.

Well some may say I'm sitting on the fence when I say both versions played their part, but I can only call it as I see it and it really was an extraordinary series of events that brought about this final score with plenty of praise and criticism to be fired around at everyone involved.

First let's deal with the Ospreys themselves shall we? Of all the non-Irish teams I have seen come to Dublin over the years, they are the ones who consistently display the least amount of fear in what has proven overall to be a very difficult arena for away sides. They are focused from the get-go, and always seem to know exactly how to extract the most from every given situation.

Of course not everything they do is on the legal side of things, but that's not necessarily a complaint on my part. They have always struck me as a very professional outfit who know exactly which grey areas of the laws to inhabit and do it very well.

And when they are given a chance, by God they can take it with style. Their first try by George Stowers was the result of a sweet move down the right flank when offered only a minimal about of space which they exploited to perfection.

On Leinster's side of the ball, despite the near “dream team” nature of the starting lineup, it was like we were in the same frame of mind as we were for the reverse fixture in Swansea back in September.

Sure, O'Driscoll had some good rushes and tackles and Thorn put himself about but they couldn't hide a rake of errors by the home side –multiple knock-ons in the tackle, falling asleep at the breakdown,penalties from the hand not finding touch.  And of course there was Luke, who had a decent carry or two, but still made a couple of poor decisions trying to deal with penalties at the touchline, the second of which proved costly.

Even the Madigan try, though an excellent finish, only came after an overthrown Leinster lineout which took a ridiculously fortunate bounce for the outhalf who had celebrated his 23rd birthday just a couple of days before and was no doubt grateful of this present.

And crucially many of the home errors were concentrated at the one period of the game where it was there to be won – during the (albeit harsh) sin-binning of Justin Tipur-lake.

You will notice that I have been at pains to point out Leinster' errors before I ever mention the word “scrum”. To lose one tighthead is unlucky; to lose both, even more unlucky. But refusing the option ofuncontested scrums can only be described as inexplicable. Maybe Jack McGrath has played tighthead in training, but you must take every advantage you can in this game and that decision played a major part in the Ospreys literally going the length of the field to get their winning try.

Now...to the two TMO calls. I think both were tries. I've done my best to capture still frames above but when you see the action you can clearly see a partial grounding in both cases. So I have no idea why the TMO didn't award the first one by Heinke van der Merwe (on the left above)? The angle in that picture is the one where you see the grounding – he looked at it once, and I even saw it on the RDS screen at the time.

But the TMO Alan Rogan went on to look at every other angle at least twice each (none of which gave any notion of what happened) and actually went back to the “good” angle only to stop the video before you can see the ball being grounded! I don't understand it myself, and I have done my best to be objective looking at both replays – in Hibbard's case you do see a brief flash where it goes down then up again having disturbed some grass in the process.

And then of course there's the conversion. Before I analyse it, let me make it clear that it was an absolute cracker of a strike by Dan Biggar. We Irish fans were all gushing over Rob Kearney's drop goal attempt at Twickenham and how it “deserved” to count for 3 points so in some ways the same must be said for this, particularly considering the situation he was in.

But even if the TMO is a bit suspect, how on earth can you NOT refer to him for such a vital kick that decides a game? Again looking at the replay, the ball strikes the very top of the post and sails directly over it in the same direction it was coming from. Of course we can't speculate where it would have gone if the posts were higher, but the rule is that over the upright is not a score. So it was definitely worth a look upstairs, and would have been at any stage of the game.

Most sports that have introduced video refereeing have offered a“challenge” to both sides and perhaps it is time it came into rugby? Both sides have one challenge, it's up to them how they use it. Could have been the difference between winning and losing in this match anyway!

However,despite the questionable officiating, I have to repeat there was enough on Leinster's side of things to suggest they didn't deserve to keep the unbeaten streak going, and in actual fact when you look back over some of the results they had more than their fair share of good fortune so we were probably due for things to go the other way.

And it wasn't like there weren't any positives. BOD saw his 55 minutes through very well. Thorn got a game under his belt before his first taste of a hostile Thomond Park. McFadden kicked 6 from 8 but also did enough at 12 to show he was worth a look there in the Six Nations.

You could even go as far to say that it's in some ways a good thing that the streak is broken. With much bigger games down the line, Joe Schmidt can now use his coaching sessions constructively and allow his squad gather their composure to find winning ways once again,something he has proven a master at doing since his arrival in Dublin.

For the time being, pending of course the status report on our tighthead trio, this Leinster fan isn't too worried about the implications of this defeat. Who knows – come seasons end we may end up thanking the Ospreys for doing the league double over us! JLP


UPDATE - Moments after publishing the above, the "Leinster Squad Update" was posted on the provincial website - it seems Hagan is out for a while with damaged rib cartilage, White needs to be monitored with an announcement made Friday, though the good news is that it seems Mike Ross will be ok to play in Thomond and (fingers crossed!) beyond.

ALSO THIS WEEKEND

 

Fri March 23

Edinburgh 15-29 Dragons

Glasgow 24-6 Aironi

 

Saturday March 24

Treviso 23-27 Ulster

Cardiff Blues 14-26 Scarlets

Connacht 16-20 Munster

ENGLAND-30 IRELAND-9

Preface : The Fabrice Muamba incident at White Hart Lane definitely put sport into perspective for everyone last Saturday. Of course it goes without saying we all wish him all the best in his fight for recovery, and we should also show our appreciation for the amazing work that is done by the paramedic services at grounds all over the world when these major events are on.

HALF-MEASURES

Ireland kick off, England receive in own 22, secure the ball, Dickson box kick, taken by Kearney in his own half and brings into contact. Healy runs, loses ball in turnover, though Ireland quickly get it back. Scrum untidy (Court struggling) Ireland get 2^nd chance in English half. Heaslip picks & goes, then Reddan goes himself but then Ferris knocks on. From Eng scrum ball is kicked into Irish half (just). England knock it on, Irish scrum advantage, Kearney takes it, then Reddan to O'Brien, (advantage called over) to Bowe, into contact. Reddan to O'Brien again into contact, ball now at centre of halfway line. Ryan into contact. Reddan to Sexton who passes and backline passes it on laterally, Kearney drops it but it goes backwards. Ball still at half-way. Reddan does poor box kick, taken by Foden, who runs forward, passes to Croft who has clear run to line but spills it in Irish 22. From resulting scrum England win penalty which Farrell converts, score now 12-6, clock at 48m. Ireland bring on Ronan O'Gara for Gordon D'Arcy, Tomás O'Leary for Eoin Reddan, England bring on Youngs for Dickson.

What you see above is my rendition of what happened at the start of the second half of this match. The reason I have chosen to lead off with this passage is that I believe it is here where Ireland played their own part in losing a contest they were well poised to win.

Much has been made between the full-time whistle and now about England's dominance in the scrum on the afternoon. Personally, I don't think this was the reason they won on the day. I firmly believe it is very possible to be dominated in one area of play and still come out on top. Of course our front row situation needs to be looked at, but not until later when going over this match.

Ireland went in to the break only three points down, even though we enjoyed almost total domination in the first half with both possession and territory. When Tom Croft carried the ball deep into our 22 before his unfortunate spill as described above, that was the first time an Englishman had anything remotely resembling clean ball at that end of the pitch.

The problems stemmed from what we did when we had the ball. Sometimes we just plain dropped it. Other times we offloaded when we didn't need to. Other times we ran into a cul-de-sac. Other times we tried a drop goal that wasn't really on. Other times we hoofed it on the full into touch.

And although each and every one of the above was done at some stage by Gordon D'Arcy, the fact remains his team-mates did their fair share of each transgression themselves between them, with the one exception being Rob Kearney's sweet strike of a drop goal attempt which cruelly found the wrong part of the upright.

That England notched three penalty goals in the first half did not surprise me one iota, I would have bet any money on that before the off.  Ireland had more than enough ball to generate their own points in the first half to negate them and flat out failed to do so.

Of course, you have to give at least some credit to the English defence for this, and throughout this Six Nations campaign they have proven a tricky side to break down. But for all the talk about our failings in the scrum, Stuart Lancaster's men did have one major weakness themselves – their inability to hold on to the ball, particularly when it was coming down from a height.

Sexton and Kearney between them were having great success with the high kicking and you might think that it had something to do with the wet conditions that England were dropping them but we were actually able to grab it ourselves most of the time. So this was clearly an area where you'd think we'd at least be looking to get back on the front foot come the second half.

And we were even given a bonus penalty right on half time thanks to a combination of Lee Dickson dicking around at the base of the ruck for the umpteenth time (will come back to that later) and Donnacha Ryan going all “Incredible Hulk” on their asses with his counter-rucking to win Sexton the chance to pull three points back.

So the lads trudged off into the Irish dressing-room, much as they had done in Paris a couple of weeks before. Maybe we didn't enjoy a lead this time, and yes, maybe we were minus the rock of our scrum, but I can only assume the coaching staff were still setting about formulating a plan to get us points on the board in the second half.

Now we go back to the opening passage. Before you see the words “Reddan does poor box kick”, Ireland had several opportunities to set themselves up for a high kick like those which made sure hay in the first half. I'm telling you, it wasn't even on their radar. Didn't look like it had even been spoken about at half time. If I were Ben Foden in the English dressing room, I'd definitely be preparing myself for that early high garryowen landing just outside my 22, but it never came.

What came instead was a hurried box-kick that fell weakly into his arms, and suddenly England were given the perfect scenario for them to launch a dangerous assault – broken play (it practically got them all their tries in Paris). Two strong bursts from Messrs Foden and Croft later they had a virtual try, with the irony of all ironies being the fact that the Englishman spilled it in our 22 rather than on or around his own.

And of course with the scrum domination playing its part, it didn't really matter who had the put in; before long Farrell is getting that crucial opening score of the half and it's 12-6 to England.

THEN guess what we go and do? We bring on O'Gara for D'Arcy, a swap we had done before to allow Sexton to play at 12. But my question is...why were we doing it then? Surely the sight of the Munster flyhalf on the pitch at the start of the second-half would have made Foden even more painfully aware of an impending aerial assault?

Now, as for Tomás O'Leary coming on for Reddan, it was just as baffling as it had been the previous week. Does Kidney feel he HAS to play with O'Gara? If not, then you could only think it was as punishment for that poor box kick, in which case that's like firing an employee for stealing and conducting interviews for his job in the local prison.

But I went in to writing this piece determined not to dwell on the contributions of D'Arcy and O'Leary, because that would imply I blame them for the result, and I don't.

Nor do I wish to blame Nigel Owens, though I have to say he made an absolute hames of the penalty try decision. Having already both warned AND punished the England scrumhalf for delaying off the base of the ruck, he clearly shouted “use it!” and then I make it 5-6 seconds he let the 5m scrum go on before awarding a penalty to the attacking side? Without indicating an advantage at any stage? Wrong call. Plus the penalty try award itself was wrong as the ball was clear of the scrum.

Though it has to be said...not only did all the evidence point to England scoring a try during that sequence eventually anyway, in all fairness they should have had one on the board already courtesy of Mr Croft.   And once they had such a lead they were never going to let it go – Youngs’ try was merely icing on the cake.

So Nigel, you got it very wrong, but this Irish fan at least doesn't blame you either. He did do a good job handing the biting allegation given he didn't actually see it – it will be interesting to see how the powers that be handle it from here.

No, I'm still harping on Declan Kidney & his coaching staff. And it wasn't just about what happened on the day itself. In my SportsNews Ireland preview I mentioned the dangers of the pre-match taunts made by Stephen Ferris & Rob Kearney in interviews. Both are experienced and shouldn't have said what they did, but I still blame their coaches as the squad seemed to have as little by way of a PR plan as they did an offensive one all evening.

OK – NOW I'll mention our scrum. We have only one test-standard tighthead prop, his name is Mike Ross. The rugby adage goes “forwards decide who wins, the backs by how much”, but there's a subtext in that the tighthead decides whether the forwards get to decide.

When the French match was re-arranged all we heard was “four matches in four weeks” over and over, almost as a pre-emptive excuse for possible failure. In the most part, I don't hold water with that complaint because we're talking about professional athletes, but having read Bernard Jackman's book I'd be prepared to make an exception with the front row.

But hang on...didn't we play four matches in four weeks at the World Cup? What did we do then with our “golden tighthead”? We “rested” him the third week giving him 31 minutes when the match was already won, and although I know Scotland are certainly a much better outfit than Russia, if the schedule was such a worry, there was definitely a case for benching him then. Yet they didn't, and I'm not so sure Ross didn't go into the Twickenham encounter with the twinge that did for him in the end.

On the subject of Ireland not having anyone else to play a decent number 3, the IRFU will argue they have already dealt with this via their “succession” policy, so really all we can do is wait and see on that one.

So to summarize...yes, we lost badly at the scrums, but I still think we could have won, though as it turned out, over the full 80 minutes, the better team definitely did.

And you will notice that I have avoided any reference to the two missing Lions captains before now. Sure, our chances would have been better with one or both of them on the park, but the fact remains the coaching staff had plenty of time to compensate for their absence and I don't think they got the job done.

Without knowing what goes on in the coaching sessions I can only speculate but I have a feeling the current Irish approach is more down to a series of complicated plans and techniques than it is to an overall philosophy. This could well be the reason for some players being selected regardless of performance because new names would be required to learn the systems.

I still think the time is right for a new philosophy to be brought in now, because I have absolutely no evidence to suggest that anything will be different in the 2013 campaign otherwise. JLP

ALSO THIS WEEKEND

Friday, March 16

ENGLAND COUNTIES 34-16 IRISH CLUB XV

ENGLISH LEGENDS v IRISH LEGENDS

ENGLAND U20s 20-9 IRELAND U20s

If the scoreline in points doesnt give you an idea of the English domination maybe the 3-0 try count will. Irish frontline tackling was non existent literally from the kickoff and a converted try in the opening minute set the tone. Still it was only 15-6 at HT but despite having the bulk of the 2nd half possession Mike Ruddock's men couldnt turn it into points and England are champs.

Saturday, March 17

ITALY 13-6 SCOTLAND

Given the day that's in it I hope you'll forgive me for using a uniquely Irish word to describe this match: "shite". Scots spent about 5 seconds total in the opposition 22, Italy needed an extra man to cross the line for a try. Only player worth mentioning is Martin Castrogiovanni for playing his heart out, possibly his ribs too. Not sure Andy Robinson will be on the plane to Oz for the June tour.

ENGLAND 23-6 IRELAND (Women's Six Nations)

WALES 16-9 FRANCE

Hardly the pick of their displays, but recent history shows win #5 is tough to secure for a Slam, and the Welsh certainly did enough to beat a mostly disinterested French side. Cuthbert deserved the game's only try but with Warbuton once more unable to finish a match against France it was Dan Lydiate who proved a more than worthy replacement and owned the breakdown. Gatland surely Lions coach now?