It may have taken them 100 minutes to dispose of Matt O’Connor’s side,
but eventually Toulon’s global superstars shone through, with Bryan Habana’s
superb spot and turn of speed allowing the Springbok winger to ghost in between
Ian Madigan and Ben Te’o to secure the victory just before half-time in extra
time. It was a moment that money bought and a moment that sent the Marseilles
crowd into raptures and the Leinster fans into disarray.
To their credit, Leinster gave a fantastic account of themselves throughout
the game and, even though Toulon were well below par on the day, Leinster can
return to Dublin with their heads held high and with renewed optimism that they
are still a force to be reckoned with despite their patchy domestic form –
their knack of knowing how to compete in those big games regardless of how
they’ve been doing is astounding.
But Sunday’s result will do one of two things to Leinster ahead of
Friday night’s game against us: it’ll either give them that extra bit of
resolve to really push for a play-off spot or they’ll be physically drained
from such an intense match at the Stade Velodrome that the side we face will be
a shadow of the team that travelled to France – although I suspect it’s likely
to be the former given the situation Leinster face in the Pro12.
Put it this way: it would be unacceptable for Ulster to lose this
Friday.
It will be as strong a side as Ulster can put out that will feature at
the Kingspan, and with a week’s rest the question of tiredness will not come
into the equation. Flip it around and you have Leinster arriving north only
five days after going 100 minutes against one of Europe’s top two teams
(possibly the best) – either they will send that team again who will be tired
or they will send an understrength side that should be dispatched like they
were at Rodney Parade two weeks ago.
This is a glorious chance for Ulster to end the race for the play-offs
and reduce the five team challenge to the final four. It isn’t very often that
Ulster will take on a weakened Leinster side at this stage in the season, and
with home advantage on top of all the other advantages they already have it
would be disastrous for the hosts to come away with nothing from Friday’s game.
Now you may be thinking – this is still Leinster we’re talking about
here, and that is correct. But with all things considered there is absolutely
no excuse why Ulster shouldn’t emerge victorious from Friday’s interpro.
Leinster are tired, they face an uphill battle to make the top four even if
they do win this game and will have to overcome a raucous Kingspan crowd as
well as the fifteen men facing them on the field – it just looks like too much
for the Dubliners to overcome.
Still, as was said in the build up to the game against Toulon, if any
side can do it then it’s Leinster.
They just know how to scrape those backs-to-the-wall wins when it
seems like for all the world there isn’t a chance of them coming back. They did
it last season against us in the Pro12 semi-final in Dublin, they’ve done it
countless times in the Heineken Cup and it makes them extremely dangerous
opponents at any stage of the season. Never write off Leinster.
There is also a lot of pressure on Ulster to perform given that they
have one of the best records in the Pro12 since the turn of the year and there
is also that little worry in the back of the mind that, if we lose this, then
we will need a win either at home to Munster or away to Glasgow to guarantee
our place in the final four of the Pro12 – neither of those being easy tasks either.
Indeed, in terms of our run in, strictly speaking this Friday should be the
easiest game of the three.
All in all, everything is pointing toward an intriguing match-up on
Friday night and until we know what kind of side Leinster will be sending up north
it’s very hard to predict how exactly this game will pan out. However, I still
stick by what I said earlier: if Ulster do not finish the job this week and
ensure that they will be playing knock-out rugby in May then a few alarm bells
will be ringing. If we cannot see off a tired or understrength Leinster team at
home then how do we expect to win on the road in the play-offs if that’s what
it comes to?
We’ll certainly find it pretty hard.
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