Pain of Perpignan keeps Cullen sharp

Remember Perpignan!

That may sound like a battle cry from the Napoleonic Wars but is, in fact, Leo Cullen’s warning ahead of Leinster’s Heineken Cup semi-final against the Cardiff Blues today — a game which is in danger of being viewed as a procession rather than a contest.

On the one hand we have the reigning European champions who are playing at home in front of 50,000 supporters in a stadium where they remain unbeaten in five outings and, Eoin O’Malley aside, a full deck from which to choose.

On the other a club struggling with injuries and poor form and one which has no idea where they will play their home games next year, what players they will employ to feature in them and what coach will be in place to oversee it all.

And let’s not even start with Gavin Henson.

“We know a lot of these players and the damage they have done to Irish teams over the years,” said Cullen. “Places are hard to come by here at the moment and that is a motivating factor as well. You have to focus on your own basics, make sure that we are mentally right.

“Sometimes what is happening with the other team is a lot of fuzz, what’s their team going to be, blah, blah, blah.

“I remember the semi-final in 2003 against Perpignan and not many people gave them a chance coming over. We had beaten Biarritz in the quarters and they were the so-called big team at the time and nobody knew much about Perpignan.”

Nine years have come and gone since that 21-14 defeat but the depth of disappointment felt at the time is hard to overstate. Leinster were, again, playing in Lansdowne Road that day and the rickety old shack was due to host the final that year, too. Perpignan had served notice of their intent in the quarter-finals by beating a Llanelli side boasting 14 internationals and one seeking a third semi-final berth in four years.

Yet, no-one expected a repeat in Dublin. Only 75 or so Catalonian fans travelled to the game but even that small chorus was discernible at the final whistle after a game where the home team seemed to be almost spooked by the occasion and sense of expectation.

“It was the biggest day of the year for us and it was the one day we didn’t really perform,” said then coach Matt Williams, who had guided the province unbeaten through a pool that contained Bristol Shoguns, Swansea and Montferrand.

That was then, this is now.

So much changed since. For a start, all three of those pool opponents are known by different names these days, Lansdowne has been transformed into a gleaming, state-of-the-art facility and Leinster, themselves, are unrecognisable.

Nerves will not be a defining factor when the two-time champions get down to business this evening, even if Joe Schmidt admitted earlier this week that he found the volume of expectation and sense of formality that accompanies this fixture to be disconcerting.

He’s been bitten by that sort of blind certainty himself, not least during his successful stint as assistant to Vern Cotter at a Clermont Auvergne side that came to enjoy the same cosy relationship with success as his current charges.

“There is always that chance [of a surprise],” he reasons.

“There was one day in particular when Castres, who were right down at the bottom of the Top 14, came to Clermont. We were runaway leaders in the Top 14 at the time. We had beaten Toulouse at home and away and it was towards the end of the season.

“We rested two or three guys but it was still a strong team we had out and they scored four tries and got the bonus point against us. That’s why people love sport. They love the unknown. It keeps people on their seat.”

It should be pointed out, too, that Cardiff have previous in this regard.

It is less than two years since the Blues shocked Toulon in the Challenge Cup final in front of a partisan attendance approaching 49,000 people at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome. And 18 of the 21 players who did that are still at the club today.

For now, anyway.