Reds ‘outpassioned’ us, says chastened Gopperth
Though they were wearing the same Leinster blue on Saturday, the post mortems of Aussie coach Matt O’Connor and his Kiwi out-half Jimmy Gopperth couldn’t have been more different.
O’Connor was prickly as a porcupine — not for the first time this season — as he dealt with enquiries on where the evening turned sour. His out-half, Jimmy Gopperth reflected on events with a more measured approach.
O’Connor’s ire returned time and again to the officiating of Welsh referee Ian Davies and, in particular, his deliberations at the breakdown.
Gopperth, too, clearly felt Munster stretched the rule book, but reacted with far more equanimity.
“It is frustrating but the thing is that it doesn’t matter how disruptive another team is,” said Leinster’s 10.
“If you go and do your role properly and get in there and get our cleaners quicker and our ball carrier fights a bit harder… All those things eliminate any guys coming in from the side and makes the picture a lot clearer than if it is just a pile-up and a scrap and they can get their feet through and stuff like that. We have to come back and look at our own selves.”
Mea culpa, in other words.
It was the right public response to an occasion that quickly went wrong for the hosts despite Dominic Ryan’s early hit on Andrew Smith and one which Gopperth admitted afterwards had set what he thought would prove to be the ideal mood music.
O’Connor could bemoan certain decisions and their timing, and Leinster could crib about another handful of injuries to add to those already marked absent at kick-off, but boil everything down and they never matched Munster’s raw energy.
The visitors did a lot right from their game plan to their execution, but there was a notable disparity in intensity between the two and Gopperth nailed it when admitting that Anthony Foley’s men had simply “outpassioned” them.
It was an interesting choice of words.
“We were definitely up for the game, don’t get me wrong. Munster just spoiled our ball really well. When we get our ball like that, we just couldn’t start well and get our flow into the game. No team in the world can play rugby if they don’t get the ball.”
It isn’t easy to understand how that could happen and not just in a derby game of such tribal import. Gopperth said as much: every team that faces Leinster knows the imperative of spoiling their ball and stifling their attack.
Fail to do that and feel the consequences. Munster had been burned often enough by Leinster this last six or so years to understand the elevated stakes at play and the result of their endeavours was a paler shade of blue.
They have been here before, of course. Munster as well. Early-season teething problems have been milked by the media and supporters and ultimately forgotten in the afterglow of seasons that climbed onwards and upwards.
Questions remain about Leinster’s ability to match the heights managed under Joe Schmidt and, while Gopperth’s status at out-half is among the key debates right now, he himself believes Leinster must trust in themselves.
“We’re training hard. We know our systems. We have been a bit unfortunate with injuries but different combinations have got to get that right and every time you have to put the blue jersey on you have to give it respect and your utmost.”
