On a significant weekend for the Irish in Europe, one underlining impression remained intact. If all four are fully locked and loaded then, with their retinue of high-class foreign imports and as fine a crop of indigenous talent as they’ve produced in the professional age, then of the quartet, Ulster are probably the strongest contenders to win the Heineken Cup.
Of course, such are the vagaries of the tournament – played in three rounds of two over four months in ever-changing conditions, not to mention the inequities of the draw and a little dollop of luck, not least with injuries – that there are no guarantees.
After all, both Leinster and Ulster would probably have been considered stronger challengers for much of last season than Munster– as was borne out to some degree by their respective finishing positions in the league.
Yet Leinster were hit hard by injuries at the start of the campaign to key players and had the misfortune to run into Clermont Auvergne at their most focused and vengeful after the semi-final defeat a season before, which thereafter left them with too much ground to make up.
Welter of injuries
For their part, Ulster were hit by a welter of injuries mid-season to a host of key players and were far from match fit for a quarter-final against Saracens.
Mindful of becoming too carried away with themselves, last season’s experience should also be a salient reminder that hitting form in October and in the third round of games come December, it is no guarantee of anything, and that one slip-up – as happened at home to Northampton – can have serious implications.
Rob Penney may have a point when stating that Munster’s pool campaign did not receive quite the plaudits it deserved last season but there’s little doubt they benefited from the fixture scheduling which gave them a home game on the Sunday of the final weekend of pool matches and thus they knew exactly what they needed to achieve to oust Leinster.
In any event, to their credit, they grasped that opportunity and upped their game with the return of Paul O’Connell in the knock-out stages.
The jury is still very much out on them after the opening defeat to Edinburgh, which perhaps filtered through to Saturday’s laboured win at home to Gloucester.
Perhaps this even extends to their supporters who, allowing for the dire effects of the recession in Limerick especially and the costs incurred already in the replayed All-Ireland hurling final between Cork and Clare, failed to fill out Thomond Park for a Saturday evening set-to with English opposition which harked back to some of Munster’s finest hours.
However it’s worth noting the attendance of 23,510 was still the second highest over the course of last weekend, bettered only by the 61,248 which attended the Wembley game between Saracens and Toulouse.
Thomond Park still drew a bigger attendance than Welford Road, the RDS or Stade Marcel-Michelin, which is no mean feat.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that Thomond Park is the biggest, purpose-built rugby stadium per se in Ireland, Britain, France or Italy.
All told, last weekend produced a new record pool round total of 203,744 for the Heineken Cup, surpassing the previous mark of 200,307 from the 2008/09 season.
Bully boys
Of course, the way the bully boys from the PRL and LNR would have it, such figures will be beyond the scope of a new Heineken Cup or pan-European replacement, simply as the tournament will be limited to 20 teams instead of 24.
If the last two weekends proved anything it is the Heineken Cup ain’t broke so there’s no need to tamper excessively.
It’s not just the quality of the tournament ensured a marked increase in the quality of rugby compared to the three domestic leagues, or that 1,005 points were scored in the 24 games at an average of 42 per game, with 90 tries at an average of nearly four per match.
Twenty clubs or regions divided into five pools of four, instead of six, won’t even free up any time in an over-crowded seasonal calendar. Rather, what it will do, is limit the variety, ensuring a repetitive cast list, and thus make the competition duller.
If their restrictive format had come into being this season, then Connacht, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Zebre would not have competed in the Heineken Cup.
The competition would pretty much forever more be deprived of such David-Goliath clashes as Connacht against a Saracens side which actually incurred a greater financial deficit than Connacht’s entire budget last season.
Likewise there would have been no Connacht-Toulouse back-to-back games to look forward to next December, which if their first meeting at the Sportsground is anything to go by, is the essence of what the Heineken Cup is all about.
Nor, or course, would there have been Edinburgh beating Munster, or Cardiff beating Toulon. The tournament, evidently, would have been the poorer for that.
Apparently, the PRL geniuses are planning a new tournament format under their proposed Champions Cup, which will also compress the pool into two tranches of three matches in a row, rather than the existing format.
These reluctant Europeans also plan moving the final forward to April, thereby enshrining the primacy of their own domestic competitions when by rights, of course, the European final should be the climax to the entire European season, as happens in football.
All of which merely underlines, not that we needed reminding, they shouldn't be let anywhere near running the tournament.
gthornley@irishtimes.com
