Donal Lenihan: Leinster hit the ground running and simply never stopped
Heineken Champions Cup Semi-Final, Aviva Stadium, Dublin 14/5/2022. Leinster vs Toulouse. Leinster's Johnny Sexton celebrates after the game with his kids Luca, Amy, Sophie after the game. ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Waiting for the cue on the touchline to enter the fray with 20 minutes left to play, the look on the faces of the experienced Toulouse pair of Zack Holmes and Joe Tekori betrayed their innermost thoughts.
Both knew the game was up, their team on the back foot, 20 points behind on the scoreboard with no way back. In times past against against Irish opposition, the depth and quality of player introduced off the Toulouse bench, more often than not experienced internationals, proved the difference between the teams.
On this occasion the contribution of Holmes and Tekori was meaningless, the contest well and truly put to bed by this massively impressive Leinster outfit who, at times, played some mesmerizing rugby. On the occasion of his 49th birthday, Toulouse coach Ugo Mola could only sit back and admire the sustained attacking brilliance that unfolded before his eyes.
The wheel had come full circle.
Mola played on many a Toulouse side that inflicted similar pain on a variety of teams across Europe with their ability to keep the ball alive through multi phase rugby due to the brilliance of their passing and offloading game.
On Saturday his men were on the receiving end of a similar attacking masterclass. From the outset, conscious of the 100 minutes of massively physical action Toulouse endured against Munster seven days earlier, coupled with a number of flights to and from France, Leinster were intent on exploding from the blocks at a pace and intensity Toulouse couldn’t live with.
That approach demanded patience as it would take time to squeeze the life and run the legs out of the big Toulouse pack. What Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster probably didn't anticipate was a 20 point haul in as many minutes, courtesy of a pair of well worked tries from James Lowe and Josh van der Flier in an stunning opening quarter from the hosts.
Right from the opening whistle, Leinster found their groove, kept the ball alive through the accuracy of their passing which stretched the Toulouse defence from touchline to touchline. Conscious of the need to play at pace, Leinster’s attacking intent and ability to take Toulouse through multiple exhaustive phases was going exactly to script.
To their credit, Toulouse responded in kind, taking a leaf from Munster’s book the previous week when defending their line with a ferocity in that opening period when Leinster came at them in waves.
When the electric Antoine Dupont blocked a grubber kick from his opposite number Jamison Gibson-Park, ten metres from his own line, seizing on a favorable bounce to sprint 90 meters to the try line you felt, maybe, the diminutive genius might just work his magic again and beat the opposition on his own.
Despite the world player of the year delivering his best display for some time, it was never going to be enough to stifle this incredibly well rounded Leinster team. With so much stardust sprinkled throughout they are becoming impossible to stop.
On successive weekends in Europe, they led the current leaders of England’s Gallagher Premiership and the reigning French Top 14 champions by margins of 20 and 13 points at half time, and never looked in danger of losing either game.
While Dupont did everything within his spectacular playbook to keep Toulouse from being overrun, opposite him Johnny Sexton delivered his most complete performance in years with a direct hand in Leinster’s opening three tries.
Thirteen years after announcing himself at the semi final stage of the Heineken Cup, across the city at Croke Park when sprung from the bench after 25 minutes as a replacement for the injured Felipe Contepomi against Munster in a famous 25-6 win, Sexton remains master of all he surveys.
He looks more relaxed than ever before and appears to have reached a point where he knows his playing days are numbered and is determined to make the very best of each and every opportunity he gets on the field of play.
Even more encouraging from an Irish perspective is the fact that he looks to be in the shape of his life. For the second week in a row, he shipped a number of massive hits, one in the act of setting up Lowe’s opening try, but bounced back to his feet and took it all in his stride.
When eventually called ashore, he had accumulated 68 minutes of intense action with a quality of performance sufficient to collect a deserved man of the match award. The smile on his departure said it all. He was back where he craved to be, a sixth Heineken Cup final.
The fly in the ointment of those three successive defeats in Europe since 2018 was up front where Leinster round it increasingly difficult to live with the power and explosiveness of both Saracens and La Rochelle.
That was clearly something Leicester Tigers and Toulouse targeted over the last two weekends of knockout action but with little success. Leinster’s scrum did come under pressure once Tadhg Furlong was forced off with an ankle injury after only 17 minutes but, that apart, the Leinster pack were in total control.
Outstanding Toulouse loose head prop Cyril Baille and hooker Julien Marchand must have experienced a feeling of 'Déjà vu' when getting set for the opening scrum. Opposite them, ready to lock horns, seven of the Irish pack that started the Six Nations outing against them at the Stade de France last February.
Ironically the odd one out, second row Ross Maloney, was probably Leinster’s standout performer up front. He was magnificent and has earned a seat on the plane for Ireland’s five match tour of New Zealand. Of equal importance was the return of James Ryan, who has now stitched together two excellent performances on successive weekends against powerful opposition. Given his recent injury problems that is most welcome.
Most significant of all was the fact that Leinster emerged on top in the collisions, the area that cost them so dearly in Europe in recent seasons. Entering the final quarter, Leinster had registered 41 dominant collisions as opposed to just 16 from Toulouse. I suspect those numbers would have resonated far more with the Leinster management than the final score.
All that was left for the Leinster players and management was to sit back yesterday afternoon, take in the second semi final between Racing 92 and La Rochelle with the luxury of knowing they were bound for the final at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille on May 28th.
In a cagey affair, where the familiarity of both sides tended to cancel each other out, not helped either by the searing 28 degree heat, I doubt if anyone in the Leinster set up lost too much sleep worrying about what lies ahead of them.
In the end, La Rochelle emerged from a tense encounter to reach a second consecutive final. Right now, the task ahead of Ronan O'Gara looks daunting with Leinster clear favorites to add a fifth Heineken Cup success to their roll of honor.
That said, most Leinster supporters I spoke to on Saturday were hoping to avoid their conquerors from last season. Based purely on their respective semi final performances, Leinster appear to be a far better balanced and more rounded team.
The challenge now is to deliver on that superiority when it matters most.
