Post mortems kick off for Cup casualties

IT may have been officially the most depressing day of the year yesterday, but for some rugby folk the despair will be continuing long into the week in the wake of European disappointment.

And not just in Munster.

There are internal reviews being conducted throughout Europe after the hopes of many Heineken Cup teams were dashed in round five and while one can never be sure how deeply an exit from the competition is felt by the French teams, there is already much hand-wringing going on in England and Wales as well as Cork and Limerick.

With pools four and five almost certain to provide the two best runners-up for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals, the next three best runners-up can still win a place in the Amlin Challenge Cup last eight if they can win this weekend.

ASM Clermont Auvergne travel to pool two bottom club Saracens with 14 points in the table, five behind winners Leinster, while London Wasps have 15, their shock 20-10 defeat at Glasgow putting paid to their hopes of overturning unbeaten Toulouse in pool six, whom they host on Sunday. Munster, on 11 points, must deal with London Irish at Thomond Park, while Castres, also on 11, entertain runaway pool one winners Northampton.

At least they have the Amlin Cup as an incentive. Munster’s demise attracted all the attention given the province’s pedigree as two-time champions, with former England captain Will Carling stating the obvious to his considerable army of twitter followers: “Looking at Irish rugby, it does look like a big shift in power from Munster to the new Leinster/ Ulster axis.....”

But, in Wales, Ospreys head coach Sean Holley was particularly candid when assessing his side’s 24-12 loss at London Irish, denying the Welshmen their fourth consecutive trip to the quarter-finals.

Now a point behind Munster with Toulon visiting Swansea this weekend, there is only pride at stake for the Ospreys squad of stars from Wales, New Zealand, Ireland and Scotland.

Holley told BBC Wales the enforced absence of those international stars for long periods during the autumn internationals had been telling.

“We need to seriously look at... losing large chunks of players for large chunks of the season and what that does to our momentum. There are some big decisions to be made in future.

“The last three years has been about securing your home wins and getting something away, like in that Leicester game (a 32-32 draw at Welford Road last season). We haven’t managed to do that this year so obviously it’s a backward step. We felt we were in good shape this year off the back of the Magners win last year to get some momentum.

“And we don’t want to make excuses, but clearly there are times in the season where we are disjointed. We lose a lot of players and we need to seriously look at that. As to losing large chunks of players for large chunks of the season and what that does to our momentum, really we must see whether that’s cost-effective enough for Ospreys rugby moving forward.”

Holley mentioned Leicester Tigers and further study of those English yeomen and at London Wasps give hope to him and others looking at themselves in mirrors across Europe this week.

The Tigers finished bottom of their pool in 1999-2000 and won the trophy for the next two seasons, while Wasps climbed to the top of the European pile in 03-04 and 06-07, each time having been eliminated at the pool stage the previous season.