Felipe Contepomi: Big-name absentees wouldn’t dilute rivalry

There’s not much worse than old-timers waxing lyrical about how things were better in their day.

Tue, 24 Dec, 2019 - 06:00

Brendan O'Brien

There’s not much worse than old-timers waxing lyrical about how things were better in their day.

Felipe Contepomi can’t be accused of that. Not for the Leinster assistant coach the compulsion to wallow in nostalgia for the noughties when he traded blows, points, and barbs with Ronan O’Gara and the rest of the Munster fraternity.

Then again, that’s no surprise. Contepomi won some and lost some against Leinster’s bitterest of rivals — but he endured more than

his fair share of miserable days down in Limerick, not least the last of them in April 2009 when he missed four kicks at goal and the visitors lost 22-5.

So ask him for memories of Thomond Park and the answer comes back in generic packaging.

“It is great. As a rugby player, it is one of those atmospheres that is great to play in. Being able to be part of a Leinster-Munster game, it is one of the biggest derbies in world rugby by far. I have been in some other big derbies, like Stade-Racing, and I don’t know if they are the same.”

Thing is, this relationship has changed.

There’s no denying it.

That encounter a decade ago was laced with the elite. The sides started with 27 internationals between them. The other three would make their debuts for Ireland later that year, among them Cian Healy who is on 95 caps and counting now with his country.

Those days are long gone.

The interpros have long since been compromised by the need of the greater good, and the World Cup in Japan has forced the IRFU’s hand still further with Irish internationals thin on the ground.

It isn’t far off a reserve fixture wrapped up in a shiny bow.

“I personally don’t like talking about first or second tiers,” said Contepomi.

It is Munster-Leinster. It takes a lot to be in that moment and for me, especially in the way that tournaments are being held now, this is our tenth game in a row with another four big games coming.

“That is when you start to see how the real squad functions. Everyone is working hard, and some guys will have their chances against Munster, some had it against Ulster, and some will have it against Connacht [in the new year].”

Absent friends need not equate to a deficit in terms of entertainment.

The meeting of these two in Limerick this time last year was a perfect example, when Jonathan Sexton and Fineen Wycherley butted heads and, with that, extended the game’s best traditions.

All eyes this Saturday may be on another out-half.

Johann van Graan suggested after Munster’s defeat of Connacht last weekend that Joey Carbery may be fit enough to play a part for the club for the first time this season: it would be a timely and significant boost for the province as they face into a critical pair of European games in January.

Carbery seems tailor-made for the more expansive approach being adopted by Munster in the wake of Stephen Larkham’s arrival as attack coach, and it’s not a stretch to suggest Contepomi would approve of that link between two creative ball-players.

The Argentinian was an alchemist in his own time, though he has had few opportunities to see Carbery do his thing given the playmaker has been injured for such long periods since his own return to Leinster last season.

“For the last few months I can’t assess much. He hasn’t been playing that much but if you ask me about Joey Carbery, he is a great footballer.

“Whatever team he plays in would be delighted to have a type of player like him.

“If he comes in it is good for him. He could definitely be a threat, but it is just one more piece of the puzzle. It is not the whole thing. Munster won’t change the way they play because of the way Joey does or doesn’t play, and we focus on ourselves first and then scout Munster as a team and not just as individual players.”