Munster would be delighted to have Leinster’s problems
For Leinster, the prospect of a home quarter-final was in their own hands, and a very achievable target.
For Munster and Ulster, after challenging campaigns, respectability and a return to winning ways was all that was on offer. Ulster did better than that with a season’s best performance against the once mighty Leicester Tigers.
Munster were always likely to vent their frustrations against a shadow Sale Sharks side who retained only three starters from the team that pushed Clermont Auvergne all the way in Round 5.
A word too for Connacht who, with a second win on French soil this season, delivered an away Challenge Cup quarter-final against Gloucester.
Leinster’s draw in Coventry on Saturday left them sweating it out for that home quarter-final but with Toulouse losing to Montpellier against the odds yesterday, Matt O’Connor’s men were handed a lucrative home draw against Bath, most probably at the Aviva Stadium.
The feelgood factor may not have lasted that long in Camp Leinster, however, when England World Cup winner Ben Kay drew the winner of the Dublin quarter-final away to whoever emerges from the Toulon v Wasps quarter-final. I think we all appreciate the implications of that.
With favourites Toulon and Clermont now having the carrot of home quarter and semi-finals, the prospect of a repeat of the 2013 final in Dublin between those two French giants now looks very much on the cards.
Racing Metro had a magnificent win over Northampton at Franklins Gardens on Saturday and are rewarded with a home quarter-final against Saracens. No doubt Ronan O’Gara will be checking in with the Munster management over the next few weeks for pointers on that one.
Playing only for pride and self respect, a win at Thomond Park yesterday wouldn’t mean a whole lot in the overall scheme of things but a fourth Champions Cup defeat on the bounce would not only be unthinkable for Munster but would do little for the prospect of attracting some star quality next season.
If the players were feeling the pressure, it certainly didn’t show in the opening quarter with Munster playing with more tempo, width and adventure than at any stage in the season to date. The rewards were immediate with Simon Zebo touching down with less than two minutes on the clock.
Then, for whatever reason, Munster’s discipline deserted them completely, conceding innumerable penalties at the breakdown. It enabled a very average Sale team stay in contention right up to the break, trailing by a three-point margin.
Munster have missed the artistry that Keith Earls brings to proceeding and his try within a minute of the restart was a thing of beauty. Running a sumptuous line which was serviced magnificently by a beautiful offload from Ivan Dineen, the former Lion touched down under the posts to remind all and sundry what this Munster back line has been missing.
Unfortunately it was deemed necessary to withdraw him from proceedings within three minutes of that touchdown just when we were being reacquainted with the Earls factor. What that score did achieve was igniting a spark within the Munster back line and unleash a show of invention and clever running lines that yielded a remarkable nine tries in total, three more than Munster had managed in the previous five rounds of Champions Cup fare.
While the defensive frailties and lack of quality Sale brought to proceeding have to be factored in, it was very encouraging to see the shackles released and players like Zebo, Dineen, Andrew Conway, Ronan O’Mahony and Pat Howard showcase their talents.
After the doom and gloom that accompanied that defeat to Saracens last week, Munster now know that there is a skill set available behind the scrum to play with a little more intent and width than has been the case to date.
As the priority switches to the Guinness Pro12 for the remainder of the season, Munster must absorb the positives from this performance and seek more variety to their play.
The range of passing on display yesterday was excellent with the ball carrier afforded a number of different options from support players running a variety of different angles. That must be encouraged. Munster must take those positives on board and build their game from here. A home semi-final in the Pro12 must become the primary motivation from here on.
Leinster retain interests on two levels as the only gate crasher to the Anglo French alliance in the last eight of Champions Cup action. Even if Wasps’ Andy Goode had managed to convert his last-ditch drop goal at the death in Coventry on Saturday, Leinster would still have advanced to the quarter-finals, despite the fact they failed to register a single score in the second half. The odds on that happening at half-time would have been sizeable given their superiority to that point.
So dominant were the triple Heineken Cup champions in the opening half that a 14-point lead at the break appeared a poor return given that Leinster enjoyed 76% possession and 83% territory against a Wasps team reduced to 14 men for 20 of the opening 40 minutes.
To have a man yellow-carded from the kick-off — with former Springbok Ashley Johnson fortunate not to see red for his utterly reckless challenge on Dave Kearney — was a major setback, especially when you are as lacking in big game experience as this developing Wasps side is.
Yet somehow Leinster, perhaps influenced by the fact they started the second half down to 14 men themselves, with Kane Douglas binned right on the stroke of half-time, stopped playing and went into defensive mode. Impressive as that aspect of their game was, with their excellent line speed creating major problems for the hosts, Leinster inexcusably allowed Wasps to slowly claw their way back into the game.
Of even more surprise was the manner in which Leinster completely lost their composure. It didn’t help their cause that Ian Madigan, so reliable from placed balls all season, appeared to lose his kicking cadence at a time when Leinster badly needed points on the board to stem the Wasps revival.
A return of three kicks from seven at a time when Joe Schmidt is looking for confirmation that Madigan is the man to start against Italy in the absence of Johnny Sexton could not have been more ill-timed. He has the temperament to bounce back, however.
The Leinster of old would never have allowed such a dominant position slip and would put vulnerable teams like Wasps to the sword. Quite how they managed to lose their way as badly as they did in that second half is something that will not only exercise the mind of O’Connor, but also Schmidt with Ireland’s Six Nations squad placing such a heavy reliance on the Leinster contingent.
The problem facing O’Connor is that he now bids farewell to the vast majority of his squad for two months. It doesn’t help his cause either that the revised scheduling of the new Champions Cup only offers two weeks between last round of the Six Nations and Leinster’s quarter-final against Bath, meaning many of his front liners won’t feature in blue again until that eagerly awaited clash in 10 weeks’ time. That presents a problem but one that Munster and Ulster would only be delighted to have to deal with.
