Leinster already in must-win territory
By the time of its completion, there will be room for an extra 6,500 paying customers who will no doubt find the new corporate areas, toilets and concession stands significantly more appropriate for a supporter of a franchise which has thrice claimed the honour of European’s finest.
In truth, the RDS has been undergoing a constant facelift ever since Leinster first moved in.
A stand and two terraces have been added, walkways improved and even the press area has received a lick of paint and a few new fittings over the off-season.
It is the sort of progress in keeping with a club of its ambition and stature and yet all is not well. Despite all the work, the crowds are down. The last two weekends have witnessed the visit of the PRO12 leaders and the first outing in Europe and the RDS was far from full for either.
Nice seats and gourmet burgers are all well and good, but success is the taste fans really crave.
The club’s website features a video right now labelled ‘The New RDS’ and on which Luke Fitzgerald admits that the capacity increase “is ambitious but well within our capabilities, as long as we do our stuff on the pitch. It’s a little bit of extra pressure on us, I suppose, but it’s a great idea overall”.
Such ambition is to be applauded, but timing can be everything.
Munster has already discovered as much with Thomond Park given how a dip in the team’s fortunes – allied with an untimely meltdown of the national and global economies – served to undermine their best-laid plans to fill the redeveloped stadium.
Leinster’s struggles are further apparent just up the road. The recent trend for their big games at the Aviva Stadium shows equal cause for concern. Last year, the crowd dipped below the 40,000-mark for the first time for the visit of Harlequins while the 43,959 who attended the Munster game was the lowest in five meetings between the pair there.
Still, they’re not numbers to be sniffed at.
In fact, most rugby clubs would crave them, but one wonders what the attendance will be next month when Toulon trek up Lansdowne Road if the province goes and follows up last Sunday’s defeat to Wasps with another loss today against Bath at The Recreation Ground.
All of which isn’t to forget that they travel to Stade Felix Mayol for round three.
“There are wide-ranging effects to it all,” admits defence coach Kurt McQuilkin. “It’s a wide scope and it is bums on seats. We’ve boxed ourselves into a corner and now we’ve got to box ourselves out. It’s not terminal. It’s been done before, losing that first game and still getting something out of Europe, but, it’s not ideal.”
The panoramic view is not something Leo Cullen, McQuilkin or the players can linger on for now. Indeed, Cullen has twice refused in the last week to speculate on how many points Leinster might need to find their way out of the dreaded pool of death.
With just six days separating Wasps and Bath, there has been an obvious need to drill down to the core of the situation this week and the rookie head coach admits that there is a balance to be struck between the detail required and the avoidance of too much mental clutter.
Ultimately, you imagine it will come down to intent. Professional pride. Devin Toner, one of seven Leinster players or coaches on media duty this week, suggested as much when he focused on the need to get physical and stamp their authority on the game.
“You just want to see some intent,” said McQuilkin on Tuesday before training. “And they have. They’ve turned up pissed off and not happy with the result and not happy with themselves. Not happy with the collective and just not happy with the performance.
“I guess you don’t want them going out there knocking the head off each other. You just want them going out there and training with a bit of intent, and just also with composure, so that in those crucial times you do the right thing.”
Whatever the approach, defeat is unconscionable for Leinster today. For all sorts of reasons.
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