Leinster passion pleases Cheika
You could understand his frustration after his side’s unlucky 22-19 defeat by Bath in Saturday’s Heineken European Cup tie at the RDS.
Sour grapes? Not really. Cheika added “fair play to Bath if they wanted to play it like that and get away with it,” and he didn’t have any qualms either at the manner in which Welsh referee Nigel Whitehouse handled this fiercely contested game.
I raised Cheika’s comments with his Bath counterpart, John Connolly, another Aussie. But nothing seems to ruffle the man and he fixed me with a steely glance before quietly stating: “The breakdown in these games is always very competitive. People not as experienced as they should be make comments like that.” Ouch!
Still, you could well understand Cheika’s disappointment at losing yet another cracking Heineken Cup tie by a three point margin after Leinster had produced as gutsy a display as I have seen from them in a long time. They hardly deserved to lose a game that was balanced on a knife edge throughout a gripping second half and at last they put in a performance that gave their fans something to get excited about, albeit against a moderate Bath side.
For much of the evening, it had looked so good for Leinster who fielded without seven likely first choice selections including Brian O’Driscoll, Denis Hickie, Malcolm O’Kelly, Eric Miller and, at the last minute, prop Will Green. Christian Warner was another enforced absentee but so superbly did stand-in captain Felipe Contepomi fill the No 10 jersey that this could well have been a blessing in disguise. Contepomi went on to score all his side’s 19 points and took his tenth minute try quite beautifully. The resultant conversion and an earlier penalty pushed his side ten points clear but in hindsight it may have been a this stage of the game that they lost their victory chance.
Mistakes were made, scoring opportunities were scorned and at half time the gap was down to four points at 13-9. Eight minutes into the second half, Leinster suffered a triple whammy. Hooker Dave Blaney was yellow carded by Whitehouse for deliberately killing the ball in front of his own posts, Olly Barkley cleverly and audaciously kicked to the left corner where flanker Andy Beattie was totally unmarked and touched down for a try. To rub further salt in Leinster wounds, Barkley mis-hit his conversion attempt but somehow the ball wobbled over the crossbar.
Bath were now 16-13 ahead and after 69 minutes the margin remained three points. This was harsh justice on Leinster who pieced together some terrific moves. But the final whistle left them with only a bonus point as consolation for an effort that fully merited Cheika’s ringing endorsement.
“We have taken a lot of flak for a lack of passion but we stood up to the task tonight”, he maintained. “We’ve acknowledged that kind of criticism but the guys gave it everything this time. If we keep pushing ourselves and continue to play to this high level, we’ll get there. I’m certainly not counting us out of the group.”
In spite of all the absentees, Leinster did step up to the plate and none more than their young wingers, Robert Kearney, especially, and Kieran Lewis, in the back division, the admirable Heaslip at No 8 and Keith Gleeson on the openside flank. Now, though, the team as a whole won’t find it easy to pick themselves up after this disappointment, not least because Saturday’s bonus point may not be worth a whole lot if they fail to beat Glasgow at Netherdale next weekend.
Bathwill take on Bourgoin at the Recreation Ground with their confidence further boosted by Saturday’s outcome.
“It’s a very satisfactory result but not a very satisfactory performance,” admitted Connolly. “We were guilty of a lot of poor kicking and were too happy just to defend our lead. You’re always hoping to win at home and steal something away so this is very good for us.”
: G. Dempsey; K. Lewis, G. Darcy, S. Horgan, R. Kearney; F. Contepomi, B. O’Riordan; R. Corrigan, D. Blaney, E. Byrne, B. Gissing, B. Williams, C. Potts, K. Gleeson, J. Heaslip.
: B. O’Meara for O’Riordan, B. Jackman for Blaney, M. O’Kelly for Gissing (all 59 mins), J. Hepworth for Kearney (inj. 74).
: L. Best; D. Bory, T. Cheeseman, O. Barkley, F. Welsh; C. Malone, M. Wood; M. Stevens, L. Mears, D. Bell, S. Borthwick, D. Grewcock, A. Beattie, J. Scaysbrook, Z. Feaunati.
: P. Dixon for Mears, G. Delve for Feaunati, S. Finau for Bory (all 77 mins)
- N. Whitehouse (Wales).
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