Leinster revival is just what doctor Leo ordered
Guys are willing to sacrifice themselves Our medics are under huge scrutiny all the time
HOW bizarre it was that less than an hour after the curtain fell on a tremendous Champions Cup encounter that dramatically tipped Leinster’s way, Leo Cullen was assailed at a post-match media sidebar in Aviva Stadium.
There was no warm salute for the positive outcome to his 75th match in charge. No recognition either that two years after he was depicted on this very same December weekend at the very same ground as a pantomime villain out of his depth as boss of a Leinster team that had tumbled out of Europe the wrong side of Christmas, he was now taking care of business after Saturday’s exhilarating 22-17 victory — the 53rd of his two-and-a-half-year reign — saw them perched on top of Pool 3. Instead of acclaim, the coach, just 30 seconds into his usual post-game setpiece for Monday newspapers, was forced to utter the words ‘you’re digging’ four times in response to amateur doctors in the press pack who appeared to have suddenly discovered that rugby is a physical game.
Sportsmail would never trivialise concussion, especially as this paper was at the forefront years ago in highlighting its prevalence in rugby long before it became a mainstream talking point.
However, Saturday’s scattergun verbal assault on Cullen was dubious. Rambling questions. Disrespectful remarks described (Ross Byrne as ‘stupid’ was caustically by one inquisitor for his collision with Exeter’s Nic White).
On the backfoot and protesting, ‘Fellas, I don’t know where we are going here’, an exasperated Cullen interjected. He would have been within rights to mimic the habit of predecessor Matt O’Connor by turning on his heels and bolting for the exit door.
What more could he have said about Johnny Sexton’s failed head injury assessment, Byrne’s passed HIA and an earnest explanation why Seán Cronin was fit to continue without a test, his damaged tooth the reason he also required on-pitch treatment? In the end, Cullen put the thorny issue and all its innuendo to bed with a flourish. ‘Player safety is paramount. Our medics are under huge scrutiny all the time and maybe rightly so. Like, there is a huge amount of pressure on those guys, so they are cautious. ‘A lot of people are getting knocks and the game, why are people attracted? Because it’s a physical game and it’s amazing the values where guys are flying into contact areas and putting their bodies on the line. ‘That is the amazing thing about the game. It’s an amazing sport where guys are willing to sacrifice themselves like that and that is why people want to turn up. When I was a kid playing rugby for the first time at eight years of age, what did I enjoy? Going around tackling people.’
That is an enjoyment shared at clubs across Ireland every weekend, and not just the preserve of the professional game. Physicality is what makes rugby great and no one watching at the Aviva was shuddering, as alleged to Cullen by another amateur doctor.
Instead, the noise from the busy stands was approval for the intensity of a marvellous spectacle and recognition that in this compelling, fast-moving sport, tackling technique can fail some players with painful consequences.
Sexton’s head coming off second best in his stand-up collision with Matt Kvesic, and Byrne’s clash of heads due to an Exeter player dipping as the tackle approached didn’t make this spectacle Xrated viewing, no matter how ugly was Cian Healy’s totally unnecessary shoulder to Luke CowanDickie’s head. That will likely see the prop dragged into an EPCR disciplinary hearing this week despite his yellow card punishment. That’s a complicated legal web Healy would have hoped to have seen the last of following the carry-on endured two years ago after a sin-binning at Toulon.
What will be far more remembered by the 40,064 attendance who lapped up an excellent contest is how Leinster — trailing by
14 points and sucking up a second yellow after Scott Fardy collapsed a maul — remarkably kept Chiefs, pride of the Premiership, scoreless from the 33rd minute through to a tumultuous conclusion.
The hosts’ successful comeback demonstrated how much they learned their lesson from Clermont dumping them from last April’s semi-finals.
Back then, a courageous fightback from a 15-point deficit and an early yellow for Isa Nacewa was compromised by illegal holding at a centre-field ruck by the try-scoring Dan Leavy, preventing Leinster from taking the lead in an epic battle they lost by five points.
Here, they squeaked home by five, Nacewa efficiently booting over the kicks in Sexton’s absence before, aptly, Leavy got the benefit of a refereeing call eight months on from Lyon, his borderline scoring pass to Luke McGrath given thumbs up.
What did for Exeter was far too many turnovers and a wonky lineout in the opposition 22 that only worked once, CowanDickie driven over off a maul for their second try 28 minutes after Sam Skinner had provided a third-minute lead with a stricken Sexton on his hunkers.
Leinster’s response wasn’t entirely immaculate. Their lineout was unreliable, their penalty count far too high, but they were intensely gutsy, a belligerent attitude that ultimately proved decisive to leave them in rude health, with Montpellier now their main threat.
‘It’s a physical game,’ reiterated Cullen later, gratified his charges absorbed a punishing toll.
‘That’s why guys are fully committed and that is what you need to be still in the tournament because there is a lot of good teams already on their way out.’