Monday, January 25, 2010
AND then there were eight.
Once again Irish rugby leads the way in the Heineken Cup with Munster cementing their position as the number one seed in Europe, while holders Leinster, despite a massive scare against London Irish, also secured a home quarter final.
The good news ends there, however.
Should Munster and Leinster safely negotiate their respective quarter-finals, both will be forced to travel for the semi-finals, the draw for which took place in Paris yesterday, and worked out ideally for the French.
Ominously, in a year with the final in the Stade de France, four French teams have reached the knockout stages, their highest representation in some time. All the big guns have made it through – three-time winners Toulouse, Biarritz, a rather fortunate Stade Francais and the team I would worry about most from an Irish perspective, Clermont-Auvergne.
Welsh rugby is represented by the Ospreys who may have done the two Irish teams a massive favour by eliminating tournament specialists Leicester Tigers. The much-hyped Guinness Premiership has produced just one team in the last eight, their lowest ever representation at this stage of the tournament.
Northampton are rewarded for their losing bonus point stand in Limerick by securing the final runners-up slot as eighth seed. That seems an accurate reflection of where English rugby is at present and will not go down well in the Sky studio.
A word too for Connacht who have distinguished themselves by finishing top seed in the Amlin challenge cup and have been rewarded with a home quarter-final against Bourgoin. It will get tougher for them from here on in.
Ulster came within a whisker of toppling Stade Francais in Pool 4 when beating Bath by 28-10 at the Rec but do not even have the consolation of a place in the Challenge Cup. They are extremely unlucky.
Leinster will now have to defend their title the hard way with a very difficult assignment against Clermont Auvergne. Their reward should they win that is a trip to France for a semi-final date against either Toulouse or Stade Francais – not easy.
Munster will also be on the road for a potential semi-final if they succeed in toppling Northampton who they meet for the third time in this year’s competition in the quarter-final in April. Win that and it’s off to meet the winners of Biarritz and the Ospreys in either the south of France or the Millennium Stadium.
That semi-final draw really could not have been any worse for the Irish duo and ensures that the only stage that Munster and Leinster could meet each other now would be in the final. Before that both must negotiate very tricky quarter final opposition.
If you thought that Munster’s encounter with Northampton last Friday night was explosive then the next meeting is likely to be even more fractious. In a rugby context, familiarity really does breed contempt. There is no love lost between the sides. At least Munster know exactly what to expect when the Saints return to Limerick in April.
Leinster, despite hanging on by their finger-nails to secure a draw against London Irish on Saturday with a dramatic late drop goal from Jonny Sexton, have a first home quarter final in five years.
They were on the receiving end for long periods in the clash of the weekend. Bob Casey’s men will look back on their implosion in Parc Y Scarlets last week and rue a shocking reversal that changed the context of their clash with the reigning champions. Forced to chase tries they had no option but to run everything.
Leinster were fortunate in the extreme to hold on for a draw with Chris Malone missing a series of very kickable penalties and also lacking the bottle at the vital moments to drop a goal. Even in the last phase of play, he had two further drop goal opportunities to win the game. Had he delivered, the ramifications would have been colossal. London Irish would have been heading to Thomond Park instead of Northampton, and Leinster would have lost home advantage for their quarter-final.
However being champions confers special powers. Leinster now have the personnel and the experience to do the right things at the right time. The manner in which they reeled in a three point deficit by manufacturing a drop goal opportunity for Sexton 48 seconds after Malone had finally slotted what looked like the winning penalty will fill them with confidence for the battles ahead.
Their execution was perfect. Firstly they managed to regain possession from the restart after Sexton’s kick provided sufficient hang time for Shane Hogan and Sean O’Brien to engulf Delon Armitage and create the vital turnover. Showing all the composure of a player rich in confidence, Sexton slotted a magnificent drop goal from forty metres.
Declan Kidney will have been suitably impressed.
He will also be thrilled with the performance of Gordon D’Arcy who gave a performance that reminded everyone of just what a quality player he was prior to an unfortunate series of injuries. He is now back to his impressive best and must be accommodated in the Irish midfield with his long-term partner Brian O’Driscoll.
Given the injury plague that is affecting Irish hookers at the moment you suspect that Kidney will have been slightly bemused by the selection of Bernard Jackman ahead of Irish squad member John Fogarty. That was a very strange decision but at least Cheika had the courage to acknowledge the selection error after just 30 minutes by introducing Fogarty for the unfortunate Jackman who was having a torrid time at the set piece.
Munster have serious work to do on their scrum over the next few weeks. The return to action of Marcus Horan and Jerry Flannery could not be better timed in that respect. They got out of jail on Friday night after being pummelled in that area by a very impressive Saints front five. The miracle scrum that saved Munster’s bacon is set to add to the folklore of Thomond Park but on closer examination Munster were fortunate in the extreme.
Great credit must be given to Wian du Preez for manufacturing a marvellous hit and drive on the excellent Euan Murray for that vital scrum. It gave Munster a great angle on the loose head side. Northampton had won the strike but inexplicably for the second scrum in a row (Munster were penalised in the previous one) it appears that the ball ricocheted off the legs of one of the Saints forwards and bounced back into the Munster half of the scrum.
Miracles do happen.
Munster cannot depend on miracles from here on in as every side will chase them in the scrum. The difficulty now is that the entire Munster front five will be away for the next seven weeks on international duty and may not scrummage together as a unit for some time as Cian Healy looks set to start at loose head prop for Ireland. The only way for Munster to address the scrummaging issues that crippled them last Friday night is by hard work. The pack need to work together as a unit, getting their feet and body positions right and fine-tuning their timing. That will only come from constant repetition on the training paddock in a series of live scrummaging.
There is simply no substitute for that – but unfortunately time is not on their side.
© Examiner Publications (Cork) Limited, City Quarter, Lapps Quay, Cork. Registered in Ireland: 73385.
