Ronan O'Gara: Pressure is an unwelcome imposter we have all struggled with
MIX ‘N MATCH: Toulouse’s Matthis Lebel scores his side’s first try at Thomond Park. The French side showed an ability to mix the precise with the prosaic in defeating Munster in Limerick.
THIS is France, a theatre of the absurd, where moments of great consequence are swallowed whole by the next great news cycle tsunami.
Rugby coach grabs referee. French Rugby Federation president - and World Rugby vice chairman – is found guilty of corruption. Receives suspended jail term. France, meanwhile, pours out onto the streets and boulevards to celebrate as Les Bleus advance to a second World Cup final in succession.
It’s messy, it’s Messi.
In the midst of it all, some poor souls are left to wonder if a charter flight Friday is pointing towards Belfast or Dublin. Either way, the welcome from Ulster in the Heineken Champions Cup will undoubtedly be tasty. Nilled by Sale last Sunday. European champions coming to town with their old Munster boy in tow. Plenty of incentives to get on board with right there.
Week Two in Europe is Moving Day. Those who kicked off with a win are up and running; those who came away pointless (and scoreless in some instances), can already feel the water rising around their ears. It makes them desperate and difficult. There’s already a sense of a mini Six Nations. A second defeat can turn January into a real shit sandwich. This is when pressure makes an unwelcome appearance in thought and deed, in what we do and decide not to do. In how we discard trusted routine.
Ask Harry Kane.
Wedged between the other seismic events, there’s been a few early Champions Cup pointers to chew over. The commentariat in France has been gushing in praise of Leinster and their facile dismantling of Racing 92 in Le Havre. And they’ve nodded approvingly at the manner in which Toulouse were able to change gears to the appropriate gameplan to secure the four points at Thomond Park.
Against a manifestly improving Munster, Toulouse showed the facility to mix things up and play a more prosaic style. It mightn’t be in the Toulouse heritage to roll up sleeves and hunker down but they drove their maul impressively, they kicked well and often long.
With Dupont and Ntamack controlling the levers, it was clear to see France’s preference these days with playing ‘de-possession rugby’, a fascination with data and kicking metres and playing without the ball in opposition territory. With the national team at the minute, it’s about kicking the ball as long and as far as you can – and tackling like crazy. There’s the ball, show us what you can do with it.
Munster were shy a back or two to ask the hardest questions of their visitors. At 7-0 up, if Munster scored again, we may have been looking at a very different game and result.
Rowntree, Prendy, Leams and Andy Kyriacou are beginning to knock a proper tune out of the players. They’re not as hard to watch now. One can see there is an intelligence to how they are trying to play but it is still in its nascent phase. There were opportunities in how they were set up, but triggering the right pass wasn’t there on the day.
When you have Earls firing, Conway back, there’s probably an extra grain of nous. Also, they are missing the heft of Chris Farrell, who is a big loss. He will give them a lot of direction. More times than not, cup rugby at this stage of the year can come down to heavyweights.
I am huge fan of ball players, but ball players look better when there is a Jonathan Danty, a Levani Botia, a Bundee Aki or Rob Henshaw to engage defenders. It’s why Andy Farrell’s Ireland will always have a shot.
JUST AS no-one should misread Ulster on the basis of being shutout by Sale last weekend, Northampton will be significantly better against Munster this Sunday than they were in La Rochelle last weekend.
The game got away from them very early and it was one-way traffic for a long time. That they grabbed a couple of late tries annoyed us more than it provided comfort for them, but Saints and Munster are already in perilous territory now, not least because Munster have to go to Toulouse for their fourth round.
Edinburgh’s close run thing at Saracens underlines the point made here last week – for Irish and Scottish sides, the Champions Cup is the primary focus of their campaign, and that will be a consideration when they face sides from England or France, where domestic matters often take priority.
An example. Lyon were in South Africa and brought home a losing bonus point in a tight run thing against the Bulls. On Saturday they entertain Saracens, which has the ingredients to be one of the games of this weekend – but five days later they are back in Top 14 action at Toulon, and at the moment they lie in sixth place. It’s where the analytics boffins earn their corn.
By the time Ulster come back to face La Rochelle in the back-to-back in January, we will have met Bordeaux, gone to Perpignan and entertained Toulouse in the Top 14. And there will be eleven more weeks of regular season fare after that.
What is interesting for French sides is that away games in Europe have a more definitive, knockout feel to them. There is no hatch door to escape. Domestically – and yes, it grates – is the unsaid sense that it is ok to leave an away one after you because it’s always been like that. There is no such room for a ‘joker’; in Europe.
Anyone seeking a form team to keep an eye on must have watched Sale’s demolition of Ulster with intrigue. On Sunday, they go to Toulouse and that will provide a more robust certificate as to their worthiness in Europe.
After last Saturday’s victory against Ulster, many stayed on to watch France’s World Cup quarter-final win over England. The elimination of Brazil, Spain, Netherlands and even Japan has provided succour and currency to the argument that penalties are a lucky dip and too arbitrary. Jurgen Klinsmann weighed into the debate, advancing the excuse for Harry Kane of the referee delaying too long in signalling for the decisive kick against Hugo Lloris to be taken.
Others pretended that having his Tottenham club mate in goals was enough to spook Kane. The only external influence with any bearing on the England captain was our old friend, pressure. The sort of pressure that suffocates a man or woman once a year, once every four years, once in a career. This was such a moment for Kane, and it came down to his ability to handle it. He failed, I failed, and we all got better for failing.
Brazil’s demise was heavy with irony, Neymar left without a kick of the last penalty that never came. If it came down to five penalties to win a Rugby World Cup, I’d have Owen Farrell in my back pocket for the decisive fifth. Nobody forgets how he nailed that series-levelling Lions
that series-levelling Lions penalty in Auckland in 2017. I’d put Neil Jenkins up first, Jonny Wilkinson second, Dan Carter fourth.
And I’m looking for another good thing to nail the third...
