Leinster must rediscover bite in attack

Leinster advance to the last four of Europe but praise and congratulations aren’t coming their way.

Instead, the focus has been on the unimpressive performance as they somehow limped to victory over Bath at the Aviva on Saturday afternoon. Had the visitors won, there would have been few disagreeing with the result on this side of the Irish Sea.

Such sluggishness on the big stage is a huge cause for concern but Leinster have been here before. I played in the infamous ‘Bloodgate’ quarter-final against Harlequins in 2009 when the province edged out their opponents 6-5 in a turgid match. Few, if anyone, had any faith in that side yet within two months, they were champions of Europe.

And that is the thing with this current crop — they are awash with players who have big match temperament and experience.

Given that the hype and break of the Six Nations is now vanishing in the rear-view mirror those international stars will relish an uninterrupted two weeks of preparation time as they prepare to face the mighty Toulon in the last four. There is plenty for them, and coach Matt O’Connor to work on over the next 12 days.

The fluidity of their attack needs to be looked at, first and foremost. I would prefer to see Ian Madigan at 10 and possible bring Luke Fitzgerald into the centre to try and improve their ability to hurt the opposition behind the pack. Defensively Leinster were extremely poor and although George Ford is a very talented player, O’Connor will be furious that he was allowed the freedom of the Aviva for 80 minutes on Saturday.

Our Grenoble team actually play Toulon in the Top 14 this weekend and I have spent the last week analysing the tapes and trying to make a plan to beat them. They are a team with no obvious weaknesses but I think the best approach is for us to adopt all-out attack.

They contest the breakdown very hard and have serious power throughout but there is a slight chance that the years are catching up on some of their players and they may be vulnerable in the last 10 minutes.

Leinster have not been playing in that way recently but they have the players and the fitness to attempt that approach. Only time will tell.

The performance of the weekend’s Champions Cup action was undoubtedly at the Stade Michelin, where Clermont crushed Aviva Premier leaders Northampton 37-5 in a ruthless display.

Vern Cotter’s departure to Scotland hasn’t weakened Clermont an iota and if anything they look even stronger this season. The efforts of Jono Gibbes, recruited from Leinster to add steel to their forwards, was evident from the opening whistle and on current form they look a great bet to capture both the European Cup and the Top 14 title.

Racing Metro will be hugely disappointed at losing to Saracens in the dying seconds by conceding a soft penalty while they tried to run down the clock.

It was an error strewn match and both teams underperformed. The match referee Nigel Owens gave Racing plenty of warning at the two previous rucks to ensure they stayed on their feet and you would have to think if Johnny Sexton was still on the field at the time, he would have demanded the ball and just changed the point of contact a little wider, to mix up the pattern of one out runners that always are more dangerous for the attacking team.