Firstly, our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Paris and of
France as a whole. Friday night was a tragedy and the decision to call off
Saturday’s game was the correct one.
The one French team playing away was Toulouse, and the decision to let
their game against Saracens go ahead looked like a terrible call. Saracens were
good on Saturday night we should not deny them that, but Toulouse looked like
they wished they were anywhere else but on a rugby pitch and as such they were
mercilessly pounded into the ground for the first 45 minutes. That they rallied
in the second period and prevented Saracens from crossing a fourth time is a credit
to their players.
Meanwhile, my predicted Leinster struggles came true.
I took no joy in watching the Dubliners self-implode on Sunday,
eventually crashing to a 33-6 humiliation at home to Wasps. From Dave Kearney’s
horror show in chasing back that box kick to Charles Piutau’s final try at the
death, it was a terrible day for Leo Cullen’s men who were on the receiving end
of their worst ever home defeat in Europe. Based on how they played they
deserved it too.
It just was not the Leinster we are used to. In seasons gone by we
would have seen Leinster get together as a team, brush off the concession of
Wade’s try and come straight back at Wasps with some intent to bring the game
back under control – it was the hallmark of Leinster under Joe Schmidt that
they would find a way back no matter what.
But it never looked like that was the case on Sunday. Leinster looked
off colour and devoid of ideas for the whole game, unable to work out how to
get past the Wasps defence. Even when it was painfully obvious Wasps weren’t
competing on the floor and they were instead just fanning out across the back
line lying in wait Leinster still tried to go around them as opposed to going
through the fringes and it cost them.
Where they were most lacking though was leadership. This is a point
that has been made over and over again this week but it cannot be avoided –
that Leinster side simply looked lost. There was a point during the game where
a Wasps player was down injured and instead of anybody gathering the players
together, the Leinster players stood individually in their own depressive
state.
Where was captain Heaslip, the man expected to take over from O’Connell
for the national team? Where was the usually passionate Sexton? Where was anybody stepping up to take control?
The lack of leadership just caps the number of problems Leinster had
to be perfectly honest. They had the submissive scrum, the mental inability to
work their way back from behind or to even get past the Wasps defence, they committed
more errors, their defence let them down at crucial moments and, on top of all
of that, Jonny Sexton wasn’t firing on all cylinders either and that hindered
their attacking play considerably.
In the end it’s a game Leinster will want to forget in a hurry – Jamie
Heaslip’s childish behaviour in the post-match press conference suggests they
will be doing so as well – and it puts them firmly on the back foot in a pool
that many believe they won’t progress from anyway. Having lost one home match,
to reach the knock-outs it seems likely they need to win two away matches on
top of their remaining home games. And based on how they played on Sunday can
you see that happening?
Leinster have been in jams before, such as when they managed to
wrestle the 2011 Heineken Cup Final back from the jaws of defeat in Cardiff,
but this is a new Leinster and they look vulnerable. They are not as bad as
Sunday made them out to be, far from it. That said, they have problems to
address that they didn’t have in previous seasons and Leo Cullen has his work
cut out for him.
As a final thought: if Leinster thought Sunday was bad, they’ll feel
even worse when they remember they’ll be seeing Piutau on a regular basis next
season. Based on how he has started his brief stint at Wasps, it looks even
more foolish that the All Blacks did not have him in their World Cup squad –
his nimble footwork and powerful upper body strength made a mockery out of the
Leinster defence for the entire game, and in the end his man of the match
performance was capped off with a try at the death.
He looks lethal, and an unbelievable signing for Ulster.
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