Ex-Dublin selector has briefed Leinster on Croke Park 'double-edged sword'
Performance coach Declan Darcy speaks with Ross Byrne during a Leinster rugby squad training session. Picture: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
It is 15 years since Leinster’s iconic defeat of Munster in Croke Park so GAA HQ will be new ground for this current generation of players taking on Northampton Saints in Saturday’s Investec Champions Cup semi-final.
As participants, at least.
A fair few have experienced the venue as punters, whether that be for football or hurling matches or for a concert by a visiting musician or band, but they will shed some familiar home comforts by moving across the Liffey from the Aviva.
The squad got their prep for this tie underway by watching some footage of that 2009 semi on Monday morning and among those featuring in those clips from the day were current head coach Leo Cullen and contact skills coach Sean O’Brien.
Forwards coach Robin McBryde, born and bred in Bangor in North Wales, is another with experience there. McBryde was part of Warren Gatland’s brains trust when the Principality won at the ground a year earlier, and when they “got lamped” in 2010.
If it was England’s visit to Jones’ Road in 2007 that projected the venue and its history into the wider UK consciousness then Wales were fully aware of its significance at the time too and McBryde is excited for another day out there in front of over 82,000 people.
“It's brilliant isn't it? I'm trying to think where else it would happen, really. It's great.” There is another link between the province now and Croker and it makes for a much more valuable asset than any appearances back in the earlier part of this millennium, or memories of a seat in the Hogan Stand while the Dubs ran riot.
Declan Darcy was one of Jim Gavin’s right-hand men during Dublin’s most dominant spell. A former footballer with Leitrim and Dublin, Darcy was a selector when his native county won six All-Irelands in seven years, a run that included a five-in-a-row.
He stepped away from that role in late 2019 and, after a spell doing periodic work with Leinster, he was announced in a full-time performance coach with the province back in 2022. This is a man who knows big days at Croke Park like the back of his hand.
Cullen was vague two years ago when asked what Darcy’s exact role would be but he has worked one-on-one with the players and helped shape weeks as well as minds. His expertise will be very much on message this week given the surroundings.
The Croke Park factor is really something of a known unknown.
Could it be that another sold out crowd provides the impetus and the noise that gives Leinster an extra one or two per cent against the Premiership leaders? Or could it be a minor distraction that takes subtly but significantly from the job at hand?
“Well, we've got Declan Darcy working with us and he's got experience of Croke Park and he's warned that it's a double-edged sword, really,” said McBryde. “You can't allow it to become something bigger than what it is.
“If you play well out there it gives you more energy. That's true for whichever team is playing well on the day. So we've got to make sure that we start well and feed off that energy. It's definitely somewhere that we're looking forward to going to.”
Leinster’s eagerness must be all the more acute with the news that Garry Ringrose (shoulder) and Jimmy O’Brien (neck) are back training fully and available for selection after long enforced absences. Hugo Keenan (hip) is more of an uncertainty.
The ‘hosts’ this week turn into the semi-final having sent a scratch side to South Africa, where they suffered two big URC defeats. Those tourists still hadn’t clocked back in at the club’s UCD base in time for training on Monday.
Coaching resources were split between South Africa and Dublin over the last fortnight with the club’s front-line players spared the rigours of long-distance travel and hot-housed instead back home where their full focus was reserved for the Saints.
The vast majority of those in blue this weekend will be playing their first game since the quarter-final defeat of La Rochelle three weeks before. Northampton have had to throw far more resources at recent games against Leicester and Harlequins.
That makes for two very different approaches.
“Yeah it's a challenge,” said McBryde of the siloed two-front approach. “The result on Saturday will dictate where we got it right or not. Who's to know if we could have done anything differently.” “I think everyone understands the reasons why we chose to do what we did.”
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