Leinster down in the dumps again

THE icy wind that blew through the near-empty bowl that is Murrayfield Stadium on Saturday took with it the final, forlorn Heineken Cup hopes of a disappointing and disappointed Leinster.

In the face of a strong, disciplined defensive display by the home side, Leinster were sterile and stymied. Even with an excess of good go-forward set-piece ball, they looked utterly bereft of any kind of original attacking idea. Over 3,500 dedicated fans, half of those from Leinster, did their best to create an atmosphere in a stadium that is designed to hold over 70,000; ultimately only the home contingent were left with anything to cheer about — this was a bad, sad day for Leinster.

Is that it then, a premature end to yet another Heineken Cup campaign, dreams in tatters? Coach Michael Cheika seems to believe it is.

“Oh yeah, I think so,” his instant and honest reaction. “I don’t think we can make it from here.”

He’s almost certainly correct. Before this game, a game in which they came in as hot favourites, Leinster were already in a deep hole, on its conclusion, the death knell has surely tolled.

Credit to Edinburgh of course, and Cheika paid them due tribute: “Yeah, they played well. I’ve always considered them to be a good side; there’s something about the dynamic of the two teams that always seems to make it a close contest.”

A good side yes, but serious Heineken Cup contenders, no. And yet Leinster are supposed to be in that category. This year they have finally got a pack, a dynamic cohesive unit that impressed again in Murrayfield; with four quality backs in Gordon D’Arcy, Brian O’Driscoll, Shane Horgan and Felipe Contepomi, this should have been their year. And yet on Saturday, against a team with several players who would struggle for recognition even in Edinburgh itself, they were made to look pedestrian, average, uninspired. What’s gone wrong? World Cup hangover for Brian and the boys?

“I don’t think so,” says a puzzled Cheika. “I know there were disappointments but we had the opportunity to play the game against Edinburgh tonight.

“If you start looking around for excuses you’re getting away from the real issue. Tonight, we should have played better. We need more penetration, we need to make fewer mistakes, we have to be more disciplined (eight penalties conceded in the opening 20 minutes). I don’t think it’s any more deep-seated than the fact that we didn’t play well enough to win.”

Bang on, Michael; if his players had been as accurate in their play as their coach was in his summation, if they had been as economical, as fluent, then Leinster would have won this game.

They wouldn’t have won it easily — Edinburgh were far too organised defensively for that; but they would have won. Their scrum was utterly dominant, shunting Edinburgh around the pitch on Leinster’s put-in, turning over two Edinburgh scrums. Their lineout too was on top — they stole five Edinburgh balls, losing just one of their own, giving that renowned back division a constant supply of good set-piece ball.

So what gives with this Leinster side? On a perfect no-excuse day for rugby, the team of all the talents trailed 16-10 at the break, their season on the brink; within a converted try of the lead. It was still there for them if they could but find it within themselves to convert their continuing forward dominance to scores.

They couldn’t; they failed dismally in front of an increasingly subdued band of loyal supporters. And that grated on their coach.

“We’ve got lots of supporters tonight that we’ve let down, we’ve got to make sure we look after them in the next game, which is in Dublin (against Toulouse). I feel for them, as do the players, they were there in massive numbers tonight and we didn’t do it for them. I want to make sure they’re paid back for that, and they will be before this season is out.”

A big promise to make, which — on Saturday’s evidence — will be very difficult to keep.

As for Edinburgh, first-term coach Andy Robinson has every reason to feel satisfied. Turned over at the RDS last week, denied even a bonus point, this time there was no mistake.

“The best complete performance since I came here,” he reckoned. “The guys worked really, really hard. All week really there was a buzz about the place; you look at last week, Leinster got a try where they just flopped over, Felipe Contepomi struggled over — we didn’t miss tackles, we just didn’t finish them. This week we did. The guys knew if they stepped up this week, we could beat them. Everything about them, their enthusiasm, the courage in defence — a lot of games are won with defence and today, led by Hoggy and Ross Rennie, I thought they were magnificent.”

So they were, and it was at the breakdown that Leinster suffered most, giving away penalty after penalty. Ultimately, and not for the first time, when everything was set for them, they have failed in Europe, failed dismally.

EDINBURGH: B. Cairns (1T); A. Turnbull, N. De Luca, J. Houston, S. Webster (1T); P. Godman (4P 2C), M. Blair (capt. 1 d/g); A. Jacobsen, R. Ford, A. Allori; M. Mustchin, B. Gissing; S. Cross, R. Rennie, A Hogg.

Replacements: G. Cross (Allori 40+5); R. Reid (S. Cross 56); C. Hamilton (Mustchin 69); A. Kelly (Ford 78); B. Meyer (Blair 80); D. Blair (Godman 80); C. MacRae (Cairns 80).

LEINSTER: G. Dempsey; S. Horgan, B. O’Driscoll (capt), G. D’Arcy, R. Kearney; F. Contepomi (1P 1C), G. Easterby; O. Le Roux, B. Jackman, S. Wright; L. Cullen, M. O’Kelly; S. Keogh, S. Jennings, J. Heaslip.

Replacements: L. Fitzgerald (Horgan inj. 26); K. Gleeson (Keogh 49); C. Keane (Easterby 69); C. Healy (le Roux 74); C. Jowitt (Cullen 79); J. Sexton (O’Driscoll inj. 80+3).

Referee: T. Hayes (Wales). Very poor.