It’s a little over 21 years ago to the day, December 7th, 2002, to be precise that Leinster won their first ever Heineken Cup match on French soil, a memorable occasion for a variety of reasons in addition to that landmark achievement.
Montferrand, a precursor in name to the modern Clermont Auvergne, had not lost a home game in their previous 19 in Europe but Denis Hickie’s late try applied the coup de grace in a 23-20 victory. Psychologically, it broke through a glass ceiling that previously existed since the early days of professionalism.
Few believed it possible. A young cohort wasn’t among them. We dared to dream big, but it certainly didn’t happen overnight. Those fresh faces came with no baggage, just the desire to play and see where it took us.
I was 22, Brian O’Driscoll 23 and Leo Cullen 24, while the Irish gene pool benefited from the cross-pollination of talent from abroad; Nathan Spooner, Christian Warner and Keith Gleeson, the latter Dublin-born but who grew up in Australia, added value to the Leinster jersey in and around that point of the evolutionary process.
The shift in mindset was an important developmental tool on the road to becoming European champions seven years later but only one of a handful of areas in which Leinster needed to progress. At times that was disconcertingly slow but getting the right coaches in situ was the final part of the puzzle.
Leinster’s victory in La Rochelle at the weekend was built on a foundation of guts as much as technical virtues and while it was very much a team dynamic that won the game, there were a few individuals with no, or very little, baggage from previous defeats to the French club who came to the fore.
Jacques Nienaber has only been in Leinster a wet week, but you can already see that there is something different in the way that the team defends, one that places a huge emphasis on line speed. It is going to suit some players better than others, while possibly for a few, they may not reach the required standard.
My first encounter with the celebrated defence coach Shaun Edwards came on the Lions tour in South Africa in 2009. He liked a high, fast line in defence. This was not something I got to grips with easily, often getting too far upfield before the ball was passed. This would leave a space behind me for the attack to exploit.
The masters of this type of defence were a couple of Springboks in Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie, superb in being able to balance forward movement with timing, possessing that spatial awareness to read opposition attack and identify the perfect position to make a tackle that counted.
In a perverse way the horrible weather conditions tipped the scales in favour of Leinster, rather than their physically outsized opponents. Both teams were content to play without the ball, with La Rochelle arguably more expansive in their ideas, but the fundamental point of difference on the day was Leinster’s defence.
Nienaber’s defensive system was enthusiastically and effectively embraced by all, but Joe McCarthy, Ryan Baird and Will Connors thrived in particular. Baird and Connors played through the line, reading the game superbly to make tackles in the backfield; that hustling presence forced errors.
McCarthy delivered a performance that matched his potential, brought a level of physicality that was reminiscent of old boys in days gone by, like Nathan Hines, Brad Thorn or of a more recent vintage, Connacht’s new defence coach Scott Fardy.
One area in which he needs to be more judicious is his discipline. Three penalties and a yellow card are not the sort of statistics that endear you to the coaching team. Balance must be struck between encouraging the natural physicality and edge that he brings, which is such a refreshing component for his team, and undoing that by incurring the adverse attention from the referee.
Experience is key. You can’t play in the grey areas too often and knowing when and how to push things will be key for the young secondrow. The impact of these three players paved the way for Michael Ala’alatoa, Andrew Porter, James Ryan, Garry Ringrose and Hugo Keenan to row in and continually frustrate La Rochelle.
A challenge for Leo Cullen’s team is to sustain that momentum. For Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle, there is significantly more pressure as they head to South Africa this week and in the two pool fixtures post-Christmas if they are to pursue a hat-trick of Champions Cup titles. The French club’s expensively assembled squad has been struggling a bit in the Top14 too.
It is a real pity that there aren’t return pool matches between last weekend’s combatants. Can you imagine the lip-licking anticipation if Leinster had to welcome La Rochelle to the Aviva Stadium or Munster have to go on the road and experience the ferocity of Bayonne’s backyard?
This new format means that everyone rotates to face different opposition, which brings a different level of interest. In an Irish context both Munster and Connacht will be scratching heads slightly as to why neither carried any URC form into last weekend’s games.
Connacht were blitzed by a Noel McNamara-led Bordeaux attack, that was at times undefendable and are now left with the unenviable task of travelling to Saracens this Saturday.
Munster lost a mental battle early in the opening half and continually invited Bayonne into the game on foot of mistakes and sloppy play. The French had picked a young and inexperienced squad for the game in Limerick and there would have been an expectation that the home side need to be no better than competent to win.
Graham Rowntree’s side repeatedly failed to take scoring opportunities. Bayonne, with nothing to lose, played with a free spirit. The passes stuck, the momentum shifted, and Munster saw their early dominance evaporate to a point where they were undone late on as the French club claimed a draw.
The new format is much like its predecessor, heavily biased towards home advantage for qualification and top seeding. Munster now have a monster of a hill to climb, travelling to the Exeter Chiefs on Sunday, their hosts coming off a win in Toulon.
In January, Munster must go to Toulon and then face old adversaries the Northampton Saints at Thomond Park. The matches should make for great viewing, but Munster will have an aching feeling it could have been easier had they got the top two inches right last Saturday night.
We hoped and asked for a higher standard of rugby in what was the premier club competition for European and South African teams, and I think for the most part we got that. Results, primarily from the English teams, were a welcome surprise.
