The wheels coming off in Europe for Irish provinces
Given two of those three defeats were on home soil, the portents are altready dismal for the Irish in a tournament that we retained ownership of for long periods between 2006 and 2012.
So what has gone wrong? Ulster stand accused of a lack of desire, playing in Belfast in front of a traditionally raucous Ravenhill crowd, against Saracens on Friday night.
With four tries conceded, not only did Saracens bag a crucial away win but a bonus point their impressive coach Mark McCall could scarcely have dreamed of on his return to familiar territory.
If Leinster’s loss at home to Wasps last weekend could be traced with some justification to the lackof time afforded to their coaching staff in reintegrating up to 20 players away on World Cup duty, Ulster can offer no such excuse with just five of their starting outfit featuring at that event.
They were simply overpowered by a really impressive Saracens outfit.
The manner of Leinster’s embarrassing home defeat by a margin of 27 points to Wasps in round 1 heaped a huge amount of pressure on their inexperienced management team in the lead-up to their visit to Bath. There had to be consequences and there were.
Eight changes in personnel coupled with two positional switches, some due to injury, was always going to spark a reaction but sadly not enough to grind an unlikely win at the Recreation Ground on Saturday. Leinster have dug a massive hole for themselves now.
With back-to-back games against triple champions Toulon up next, the first of which takes place at the Stade Felix Mayol, the former tournament specialists will be out of Europe even before hosting the champions at the Aviva Stadium on the weekend before Christmas. Reality suggests they are gone already.
18-15 winners against Bath in last season’s quarter final, that’s two weeks in a row where Leinster have taken a backwards step against opponents who failed to beat them in last year’s tournament.
Arguably, Leinster now have a stronger squad and greater depth in the leadership stakes, with Johnny Sexton and Isa Nacewa back on board. Yet they are struggling.
One of the principal reasons for that is, for the second week in a row, their set piece has been destroyed. The recalled midfield combination of Luke Fitzgerald and Ben Te’o offered greater experience, greater carrying and stepping ability but with their forwards on the back foot all day, there wasn’t much they could do to influence the outcome of this one.
Once again Leinster’s scrum was minced, regardless of the combination of international props used over the course of the 80 minutes which suggests they are in need of a forensic technical overhaul.
It didn’t help that they were forced to shift a back row forward in Rhys Ruddock into the second row — Leinster opted for two back row forwards on the bench — when Hayden Triggs became their latest injury victim even if the scrum was already in serious difficulty at that stage.
His loss however tipped the balance even further in Bath’s favour and proved the catalyst for the penalty try that helped decide the contest. In total Leinster’s scrum was directly responsible for the concession of seven penalties.
With so much experience on board it was slightly ironic the introduction of a pair of comparative novices in scrum half Luke McGrath and promising open side Josh Van Der Flier, on his Champions Cup debut, combined for the try that somehow had Leinster on level terms with just ten minutes to go.
Leinster couldn’t defy the odds however and, in the end, Bath’s superior attacking shape and energy saw them deservedly win a game they had dominated from start to finish. Leinster’s inability to generate any semblance of continuity offered their attack no chance. For the second week in a row they created little or nothing with ball in hand and when they did enjoy any sustained possession, the quality of the Bath defence forced Leinster to eventually kick the ball away.
Deposed England out half George Ford had a superb game, continually attacking the gain line and bringing quality runners in Kyle Eastmond, Anthony Watson, Matt Banahan and Semesa Rokoduguni into the game. In the circumstances, Leinster did really well to concede just that single try, a direct result of their ailing scrum. Given the pressure they were under from the outset, they can take a lot from their overall defensive effort.
That said when Leinster were dominating in Europe, it was the quality of their attacking play and their passing in particular that separated them from the rest. While their back line invariably got all the plaudits, it was up front where the foundation to play was set.
Unfortunately that platform is non existent at present. Problem here is that Toulon, even without Paul O Connell on board, have a juggernaut of a pack and will seek to expose Leinster’s inadequacies up front even more. They have three weeks to address their current woes.
With Munster’s game against Stade Francais in Paris postponed due to the terrorist atrocities, they too lost ground to their European opponents without even togging out as Leicester Tigers recorded consecutive bonus point wins, this time on the road against Treviso. They now top Pool 4 with a maximum return of ten points.
Munster must now put all thoughts of a rearranged visit to the French capital on hold as they build towards what now promises to be pool defining, back-to-back contests against the Tigers in December.
Before then they entertain Guinness Pro 12 leaders and Challenge Cup Pool 1 table toppers Connacht who are enjoying their best ever start to a season with eight wins from nine competitive outings.
They arrive in Thomond Park next Saturday evening in rude health with eyes firmly set on a very rare win in Limerick.
For Leinster and Ulster a return to Pro 12 action against each other at the RDS will rarely have felt so inviting as both set out to find some form before Europe takes centre stage again next month.
