Donal Lenihan: Leinster relentlessly pursuing fifth Champions Cup triumph
EAGLE EYED: Leo Cullen keeps a close eye on Jimmy O’Brien during a Leinster training session. Cullen will no doubt keep everybody on their toes by making subtle changes in his line-up, designed to avoid any hint of complacency.
On first viewing the new, one-off format for this season’s Heineken Champions Cup left me slightly underwhelmed.
The two pools of 12 teams were confusing enough, not to mention the fact that not everyone played against the same teams in their four group games.
For example, having defeated Harlequins in their opening game last weekend, Munster now face a daunting trip to France to face Clermont Auvergne who opened their campaign with a very impressive 58-31win over Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate, scoring seven superb tries on the way. The quirk here is that Munster will not play Pat Lam’s side at this stage.
Likewise, Harlequins avoid a trip to Clermont but instead welcome Simon Zebo and Donncha Ryan’s Racing 92 to the Stoop on Sunday before travelling to Paris for the reverse fixture in Round 3.
It’s all a bit confusing at first but, having seen the points table in the two pools after the initial round of action, the format is growing on me, even if there’s a clear discrepancy in the quality of the two pools.
The one thing that’s become absolutely clear, even at this early stage, is that not only are bonus points crucial but, even more so, points differential is. Teams will have to play to the death in order to secure one of the top four slots in each pool that dictates who advances to the quarter-finals.
There’s another interesting tweak here, in that, for the first time in the history of the tournament, those quarter-finals will be played on a home and away basis.
That is why Gloucester, who sent their seconds to Lyon and were hammered 55-10, and Northampton, who plan something similar for their trip to the RDS next Saturday after their defeat to Bordeaux-Begles, have already done the tournament a great disservice.
There should be some form of sanction going forward for the manner in which they have already devalued and disrespected the tournament.
There was a time when whatever momentous victory Leinster would secure in the Heineken Cup, Munster would rock up the very next day and steal their thunder.
Was it any wonder that by the time the sides met in Croke Park for that classic semi-final in 2009, which attracted over 80,000 people for a derby that had less than 1% of that in Dooradoyle a decade earlier, Leinster had had enough.
Ever since that incredible 25-6 victory and their first-ever Heineken Cup win, defeating Leicester Tigers in the final, Munster have been operating in Leinster’s shadow.
Leo Cullen has been front and centre for all four of Leinster’s successes since then and the relentless pursuit of a unique fifth European star was kick-started with a notable win on the road in Montpellier last Saturday.
French rugby has gone through a metamorphosis since the World Cup in Japan. For that we must tip our hats to Fabian Galthie and his newly appointed management team.
The attitude and approach they have adopted with the national team appears to have given a licence to the Top 14 clubs to embrace their heritage and run with the ball. Some of the rugby delivered last weekend was nothing short of sensational, with the French sides winning seven of their eight pool games.
The old adage about the French not travelling well was hit firmly on the head with all four of their teams winning on the road. Montpellier, despite playing at home, were the only club that failed to read the script and were well beaten by Leinster in their own back yard.
The manner of the comprehensive 35-14, bonus-point win will not have gone unnoticed. To win the Champions Cup requires serious strength in depth. History has also thought us that to survive on the road in France you must match the early scrummaging onslaught that is sure to come.
When Leinster fielded a front row without their first- and second-choice looseheads in Cian Healy and Ed Byrne, hookers Ronan Kelleher and Sean Cronin, and tightheads Tadhg Furlong and Andrew Porter — internationals all — you just wondered.
In the circumstances, Peter Dooley, James Tracy and Michael Bent — the latter two also Irish internationals — did a brilliant job, propelling the bigger Montpellier back in the crucial first scrum, winning a vital penalty which helped set Leinster on their way.
Cullen and Stuart Lancaster continue to achieve the impossible by keeping a large group of very talented players both engaged and involved by clever rotation of their selections. That is an art in itself.
On their last two Champions Cup visits to the Aviva Stadium to play Leinster, in 2016 and 2019, Northampton conceded 16 tries and 110 points.
No wonder they look like throwing in the towel already. Yet, Cullen will no doubt keep everybody on their toes by making subtle changes in his line-up, designed to avoid any hint of complacency.
Johann van Graan is adopting a similar approach and with good cause. Munster are finally beginning to grow the depth necessary to deliver silverware, with a healthy level of competition developing to such a degree that a number of established internationals are having to look over their shoulder.
That is exactly what every coach seeks to create, especially with the magnitude of the challenge Munster face next time out. The latest French renaissance won’t fill Munster with any huge glee before their visit to the wonderful Stade Marcel-Michelin on Saturday.
Ironically, having watched Munster and Leinster there at the pool stage of Europe on a combined five occasions, while neither side ever managed to win, both returned with a losing bonus point every time.
A bit like Munster in the past, Clermont have fallen at the final hurdle on three occasions yet keep coming back for more.
Yet again, against Bristol last week, they showed an incredible mix of power in the set piece, an athletic back row with No 8 Fritz Lee superb, and a back-line sprinkled with brilliant broken field runners in Damian Penaud, Alivereti Raka, and hat-trick hero Katora Matsushima.
Running the show from half-back were old favourites Morgan Parra and Camille Lopez. Some things never change.
In the circumstances, the prospect of returning home with another losing bonus point doesn’t look quite so bad.
If Andy Farrell was in any doubt as to the challenge that lies ahead, the draw for the 2023 World Cup will serve to focus the mind. Experience has taught us that attempting to second guess what’s going to happen at a tournament almost three years down the track is a fool’s errand.
The notion of topping our pool and a 2019 quarter-final meeting with South Africa, given that we had beaten them home and away during that World Cup cycle, was deemed a great draw last time out. We all know what happened subsequently, with so-called tournament minnows Japan teaching us a costly lesson in Shizuoka.
While Scotland are all too familiar opponents, Ireland have never faced the Springboks at a World Cup so that will be a first. Hopefully by then, the lazy narrative we’ve been subjected to regarding motivation to be derived from Rassie Erasmus labelling Ireland soft, in a team meeting that had nothing to do with us before playing Wales in the 2019 semi-final, should have been consigned to the editor's bin.
Ireland will need considerably more than Rassie’s throwaway jibe to make a first-ever semi-final with the rapidly improving French or perennial favourites New Zealand our likely quarter-final opponent. Scotland will feel they might have some in to say about that.
