Tuesday, January 24, 2012
JAMIE HEASLIP believes Brian McLaughlin’s Ulster will travel to Limerick for next April’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Munster with less to fear than most.
Heaslip reasoned: "I was thinking about that, because didn’t Ulster go down there a few years ago and win? So that will stand to them and Ulster are playing some nice rugby. They could just as easily have won that game in Clermont (last Saturday). That (Stade Marcel Michelin) is a tough place to go and get a result so I don’t think they will have too much problem going to Thomond Park.
"It will be an unbelievable atmosphere because it will be sold out. There are going to be a good few more Munster supporters but Ulster will travel on the day so it might as well feel like a home game for them."
The win referred to by the Ireland number eight was a 37-11 success for an Ulster side coached by Matt Williams in January 2009 and whoever emerges from the provinces’ next meeting will be richly rewarded with a home tie for the semi-finals.
No such luck for Leinster.
Beat Cardiff at Lansdowne Road in the last eight and they will be faced with an away day against either Saracens or Clermont Auvergne thanks to tournament rules which decide home venues for the last eight based on pool results but which then decide semi-final hosting rights by lottery.
It is a strangely arbitrary method to settle matters of such importance in what is, for the most part, a superbly structured tournament but Heaslip wouldn’t bite on the suggestion that the champions are hard done-by.
"The home quarter-final for the club is what is important from all sorts of points of view: from getting the supporters in and from the business side because you get more of the tickets (receipts). Semi-final and the final they don’t get any money for it so, from a business side, that is really good," Heaslip said at a Puma event launch yesterday.
"It would be great if we were playing at home. Last year we played Toulouse at home and it was like not even one-eighth of the crowd were from Toulouse. We have reached the stage in knockout rugby where I don’t think we really care where we are playing just as long as we are still in the hunt."
Leinster are one of five Rabodirect Pro12 sides to make it through the pool stages which is the first time that the domestic ‘Celtic’ league has provided such a large representation. The English Premiership, by way of contrast, will bring just one club to the table. It is an impressive effort for the Pro12, a competition that has always struggled for credibility.
"People who don’t respect the teams in it — as we have seen — have been punished," said Heaslip. "One of the pundits commented after (the Edinburgh-London Irish game) that they were a little bit surprised that Edinburgh had come through and topped their group. It is a little bit disrespectful. From the get-go they are not given the kudos they deserve. Edinburgh have beaten us a few times; they are a bloody good side that plays an expansive game and have good players. If people want to write them off, then write them off, but it speaks volumes that five of the eight are Pro12 teams."
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