Nacewa rises to the occasion

SEBASTIAN Chabal, the French human wrecking ball left his mark on the ribs of Leinster’s Jamie Heaslip within 30 seconds of kick-off in Saturday’s Heineken Cup clash at the RDS, but then found diminutive Leinster winger Isa Nacewa more than a match for him.

Heaslip had barely dusted himself off when he saw Chabal sitting arse about face after being dumped to the turf by one of the smallest men on the pitch. In the overall context of the game one tackle might not mean much, but Leinster coach Joe Schmidt believed it was significant.

“Chabal is a fantastic player going forward, he’s incredibly explosive. I wouldn’t describe Isa’s challenge as a tackle as such; I’d say it was a body throw to stop Chabal’s momentum in his first carry of the game. It was meritorious to say the least and, later, because we identified Chabal as a key carrier and got numbers onto him, he didn’t get the opportunity to play the way he likes and probably dropped out of the game as a result.”

But if Chabal faded and Racing eventually succumbed by 16 points, nobody will accuse them of a counterfeit effort. Leinster skipper Heaslip described it as a hard day at the office when a lot of “ticker” was required to cope with the French challenge.

“There were crucial moments following the try that put them within sight and we showed a lot of ticker and patience to keep the ball in hand, to bring them through the phases and put them under pressure enough to get, and take, another scoring chance.”

So was it Leinster’s best performance of the season? “Not sure,” said Heaslip, “we played some good rugby in previous games but didn’t take our opportunities; today we took our opportunities, we were clinical and efficient with them.”

Racing’s assistant coach Simon Mannix felt his side made it easy for Leinster with unforced errors. “We contributed to a decent game but unfortunately contributed some points to Leinster. The intensity was up there and I wouldn’t fault the players for many of the things they did because it was one hell of an effort. However, when you make that many mistakes against quality opposition, you’re going to pay for it.

“We have some lessons to take out of it. When we came back to 26-19 we were right in the game, I felt we had control of the ball, we were going forward with our physical approach and we put them under pressure. But we needed more than that, we coughed up possession and took the heat off them.”

Mannix insisted though that his side will continue to treat this competition seriously. “It’s not over yet by a long shot and I think the message has always come from Racing that we want to be part of a group that includes the best clubs in Europe.”