D’Arcy feeling Amlin buzz

It’s European rugby alright, just not as we know it.

For years, the Challenge Cup went all but unnoticed to anyone Irish who lived east of the Shannon and even Munster’s first and so far only diversion into the competition two years ago came and went without anything like the same fuss.

Leinster may well do something to change that.

True, the Amlin — as it is now known — will never match the Heineken for prestige but the presence of Joe Schmidt’s side in the last four threatens to finally break a long-standing Anglo-French duopoly.

Cardiff, who won the title in 2010, remain the only side from beyond the Premiership or Top 14 to take this title and it says even more that Pontypridd eight years earlier was the only other non English or French side to even make the final.

It is a roll of honour that mocks its status as a European competition yet, if the blazers from France and England have their way, it will probably be stocked with considerably more Celtic League sides in the years to come.

Leinster, no more than any other club with ambitions of note, will not want to frequent its halls all too often. For now, it represents an unusual path but one worth exploring nonetheless.

“It may not be the European trophy we want but we wanted a European trophy this year and having that massive card of playing a semi-final and a final at home was a big drive for the Wasps game,” said Gordon D‘Arcy ahead of Saturday‘s semi-final against Biarritz at the RDS.

“It does feel like a European week. There is three times the amount of media here and there is that little bit of tension around the squad, unless somebody does something to lighten it. There is definitely a good buzz around the place, no doubt about it.”

The disparity between the two European competitions seemed to be highlighted in the respective quartet of quarter-finals with the Amlin providing 253 points and 28 tries to the Heineken’s 159 and nine of the same but it would be wrong to make broad judgements on just that one snapshot.

The fact is that three of the last four Heineken deciders have provided more high-scoring affairs than their Friday-night precursors and D’Arcy isn’t predicting a repeat of Leinster’s 76-point thrill-fest at Adams Park or Biarritz’s feast for the eyes against Gloucester at Kingsholm where just four fewer points were registered.

That may partly be to the French side’s up and down form in the Top 14. They lie eleventh after drawing a blank at Bordeaux-Begles last week. Admittedly, they fielded a scratch side in preparation for this contest which they need to win to maintain hopes of returning to the Heineken Cup last season.

“The way they have been playing in the last five or six games, you could look at all of them and take the average out of them. The Gloucester game was a bit of a … you don’t get that many big-scoring games in quarter-finals although we had a massive scoring game against Wasps.

“Generally the rule is that the further along you get the tighter the game is so the 40-yard pass that Yachvili threw over the top (against Gloucester) may not be thrown this week but you never know. We know they definitely like to play rugby and they are well able to do that.”

No mistake, Biarritz can be brutal too. The Basques claimed this tournament last year courtesy of wins over Wasps, Brive and Toulon in which they scored the grand total of two tries but, whatever their approach in Dublin, it will be one dictated by scrum-half Dmitiri Yachvili.

“Predominantly, with the teams we are used to playing the ten will be the playmaker but he is very much the man who dictates everything,” said D‘Arcy. “You just do your homework on them. Joe has a few ideas in his head and he shouts them at us.

“Hopefully we can implement them and try to nullify the threat. He is a major player and if you just look at how he pulled the strings in Gloucester he just seems to have endless amounts of time on the ball.”

Not something that is likely to happen this time.