Leinster's Joe McCarthy coming to grips with rugby's grey areas

Joe McCarthy in squad training for Leinster. Pic: Morgan Treacy/Inpho

Bayonne. The Basque Country. A new port of call for Leinster, in itself an increasingly rare event after almost 30 years of what is now the Champions Cup, and one of the most attractive cities in French rugby to boot.

The city’s mix of culture, great food and attractive streets will be appreciated more by the travelling support than the players, but Leo Cullen’s lads are pretty pleased to be pitching up at the famed Stade Jean Dauger as well.

“Even when the fixtures came out everyone was really excited about that one. Before the World Cup [Ireland] played Samoa there,” said Joe McCarthy. 

“It was a bit of a cagey game but the atmosphere was class because there were a lot of French fans at that game.

“You always hear about it being one of the best atmospheres in the Top 14 so we’re really excited about it. We seem to play a lot of the same teams, like a Leicester and a La Rochelle, so a new team like Bayonne is always good.” 

The locals made no secret of their favour for Samoa just over two years ago, and Leinster will be the focus of their ire again in the coming days, even if the hosts have nothing more than a shot at a Challenge Cup spot to play for in this last pool engagement.

What Leinster don’t want to do is give Bayonne a sniff of something, anything early on. Do that and tails will get up, the crowd will scent blood and this eagerly-anticipated trip to stunning new surrounds could turn into an unwanted slog.

McCarthy is right in making the obligatory point about home pride in France, and that Bayonne’s record on home soil is up there with the best the Top 14 has to offer. He’s also wary on the back of a lesson learned against La Rochelle last time out.

“One thing we looked at from the La Rochelle game was that every French team likes to offload in contact, they don’t want it to break down. We probably didn’t deal with that so well because maybe in the URC teams are more pragmatic.

Harry Byrne, 22, of Leinster celebrates with team-mates Robbie Henshaw and Joe McCarthy, left, after the Investec Champions Cup match between Leinster and La Rochelle. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

“Bayonne have good athletes and they will want to keep the ball alive. They won’t want us to get a ruck set so they will look to play through us and offload. That is very French and obvious to say but it is still very hard to defend when they get it right.” 

That willingness and ability to spread the ball wide on the part of Ronan O’Gara’s side unquestionably took Leinster by surprise. It made for a potent approach when mixed with the raw physical power and brute force they could offer as per usual.

Leinster struggled with all that for long stretches.

By half-time they had conceded ten penalties as the hosts fell repeatedly foul of referee Matthew Carley who also sent Tommy O’Brien and McCarthy to the sinbin, the latter for an offside offence that put the tin hat on repeated fouls committed by the team in general.

McCarthy wasn’t quite on board with that decision when discussing it days later with the media but offsides are, by rule, something that should be eminently avoidable. Transgressions at breakdowns these days? Not so much.

The penalty given against Munster’s Tom Farrell at the end of their game in Toulon was an obvious example of a decision that confounds almost everybody even as players and coaches stress the need to ‘paint good pictures’ at the ruck.

“Even in the La Rochelle game they were really pushing boundaries and you are wondering ‘how they are getting away with that’. It’s tough for referees,” said McCarthy.

“They’re not going to get them all right but there are some turnovers where I would feel ‘I was good there’ and you didn’t get the call, or the ref didn’t see it, or the guys come up the side.

“I pride myself on the maul and sometimes I feel I’ve come through the middle and I’ve been told to leave it or saying it’s a tackle not a maul. That happens a lot. The last few weeks have been hard because there was a good bit of grey area there.” 

This game within a game takes time to learn. It’s put to McCarthy that La Rochell’s Will Skelton, so central again last week as the sides engaged in the odd bit of handbags, might have inherited Richie McCaw’s infamous ‘cloak of invincibility’ such is his influence.

“Maybe he’s earned it as an older player, earned that respect. He seems to be able to play on the line very well and the refs don’t seem to pick him up to much. He has found a good balance.”