Donal Lenihan: Smarting Saracens retain star quality to test Leinster like no other
Saracens players line up prior to the game against Harlequins in the the Gallagher Premiership at Allianz Park last month. Picture: Adam Davy/PA Wire
Leinster’s dominance of the Guinness PRO14 this season has been so pronounced — they had 25 points to spare over second-placed Ulster in Conference A, and 18 more accumulated than Conference B table-toppers Edinburgh — anything other than a comprehensive win over their northern rivals in last Saturday’s final would have been a travesty.
Despite the carrot of a hat-trick of domestic successes on the bounce, Leo Cullen’s thoughts had been firmly focused on an old foe, however, one who will experience nothing like the inferiority complex suffered by so many of Leinster’s opponents these days, well before the departing Rob Kearney and Fergus McFadden hoisted the PRO14 trophy at their familiar home from home at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening.
A comfortable 22-point margin of victory felt about right. Ulster turned up and asked plenty of questions and that will serve to focus the minds of the Leinster players and management this week for their next battle, with a side that has seen a dramatic fall from grace, courtesy of their failure to comply with the salary cap regulations on home soil.
Saracens remain the last team to experience what it’s like to defeat Leinster. Since losing the Heineken Champions Cup final on a brilliantly atmospheric evening at St James' Park in Newcastle back in May 2019, Leinster have remained unbeaten in 25 consecutive outings. That’s an incredible achievement, especially with 14 members of their squad away on World Cup duty with Ireland during that timeframe.
Having dispatched Munster with greater ease than the 13-3 scoreline suggests in the PRO14 semi-final, without playing anywhere near their best, Cullen sat down the following evening to watch the semi-final between Edinburgh and Ulster unfold in anticipation of a head to head with his former Leicester Tigers hooker Richard Cockerill.
Leading by 12 points on two separate occasions, all indications were that the Scots were about to deliver. Ulster however had different ideas and defied form to deliver a meritorious victory laced with the character Dan McFarland has imbued in the squad since his arrival in Belfast.
Cullen’s attention span on that encounter at Murrayfield was altered considerably when word started to filter through that Owen Farrell was sent off for a reckless tackle on Wasps rookie out-half Charlie Atkinson in their Gallagher Premiership game earlier the same day.
Farrell has walked this tightrope before and survived. It was only a matter of time before he would pay the ultimate price but, in the context of what was coming down the line, his timing, in relation to both the tackle and the only game of any consequence for his club for some time, could not have been worse.
Given the calamitous season Saracens have endured, due entirely to circumstances of their own making, the only target on their horizon for months now was Saturday’s mouthwatering head to head against a side primed to assume their mantle as the best in European rugby.
The cleanout in the Saracens playing roster over the last few months has been pretty brutal.
Banished to the Greene King IPA Championship - the second tier of English rugby - for the coming season, Mark McCall and his management team have presided over a spring clean of monumental proportions.
The driving factor here was the necessity, in the first instance, to satisfy the salary cap regulations for domestic rugby along with retaining a squad capable of guaranteeing their immediate promotion back to the Premiership this coming season.
Players deemed central to Saracens future once back in the top flight have been farmed out on loan for a year to other clubs. Chief amongst these include England internationals Nick Isekwe (Northampton), Jack Singleton (Gloucester), Ben Earls (Bristol), Alex Lozowski (Montpellier) and promising young full back Max Malins (Bristol).
Others whose age profile couldn’t warrant them hanging around or costing too much in terms of salary were allowed move on. As a result the current Champions Cup holders lost another cohort of key internationals including Liam Williams, Will Skelton, George Kruis, Rhys Carre, Nick Tomkins, Ben Spencer, and Titi Lamositele.
Nine players who either started or featured off the bench in last season's captivating final in Newcastle are no longer with the club, while Farrell’s suspension for his misdemeanour against Wasps and the possible unavailability of Mako Vunipola due to injury concerns could extend that figure to 11.
Yet, despite shedding 17 players since last January, McCall has still managed to retain sufficient star quality to test Leinster like no other side has managed in their incredible unbeaten season to date.
The Saracens pack still boasts the explosive Vunipola brothers, Lions stars Maro Itoje and Jamie George, Springbok World Cup-winning tight head prop Vincent Koch, with the seasoned Jackson Wray and Michael Rhodes likely to complete a highly effective back row, with Billy Vunipola at No 8.
That forward unit has the capacity to go toe to toe with any combination Cullen starts but the departures up front mean this Sarries pack carry nothing like the trademark bench impact that propelled them to multiple successes in recent seasons. Having used 52 different players in their successful Guinness PRO14 campaign, Leinster’s squad depth hands them a key advantage in a crucial sector entering the final quarter of this one.
Josh van der Flier’s performance against Ulster was proof positive of that, having lost his starting place to Will Connors in the games prior to this. With Dan Leavy also back in the picture for the coveted No7 jersey, the abundance of riches available to Cullen in the back row alone - Caelan Doris has been immense since action resumed - is mind-boggling.
While the loss of Farrell, their captain and driving force behind the scrum, is a major setback in their quest to become the first to down Leinster colours in this elongated season, the drive to give two fingers to all who’ve basked in their discomfort and humiliation, especially in England, will act as a big motivator as Saracens enter their first game of any consequence for months.
McCall made it absolutely clear this long awaited rematch has been the only thing that has kept his players' competitive juices flowing in lockdown. “I guess, if we’re honest, the most difficult thing for us has been, however we dressed it up, none of the games we’ve played to this point have been particularly meaningful,” he said. Saturday will be different.
Despite clocking up four wins on the trot since rugby’s return, Leinster harbour areas of concern heading into this contest. Their lineout has been worryingly inconsistent of late with their shortcomings out of touch against Ulster offering Itoje and company a clear target to attack.
The scrum as been functional but has lacked the disruptive menace Tadhg Furlong brings to bear while their maul has also been fitful. The one constant however has been the excellence of their defence. Because of Leinster’s attacking ability, this is an area of superiority that often gets overlooked.
In their last two games, against Munster and Ulster, Leinster conceded a penalty to JJ Hanrahan and a try to James Hume for a combined haul of eight points in the opening five minutes of each game. After that, neither of the provinces managed to register a single point between them over the remaining 75 minutes of action.
Leinster derive massive confidence from that defensive solidity. If Saracens are to prevail where all else have failed since the 2019 Champions Cup final, they have to impact the scoreboard early and often. Without Farrell, that task has become a lot more challenging, but not impossible.
For all kinds of reasons, Saracens will carry an intensity into this contest that Leinster have not encountered for well over a year. They know what’s coming.
