LEINSTER TOO SAVVY TO GET CAUGHT AGAIN
Scarlets have lost their shock value for slick Blues
ENTERTAINERS who are afforded the tireless billing devoted to the Scarlets all week are usually found on a Las Vegas stage rather than an Irish playing field.
Not only are the Welsh team one of the most attacking sides in Europe, they’re also one of the most talked-about attacking sides. If it’s undoubtedly true that they have become one of the northern hemisphere’s most adventurous teams under their coach Wayne Pivac, it is equally true that Leinster know something of free-flowing, incisive rugby themselves.
The merits of Leo Cullen’s side have barely been heard, though, over the hosannas in honour of their opponents this afternoon.
The manner in which they won last season’s Pro12 league accounts for their reputation on this island; over successive May weekends, they came to Dublin and beat the tar out of Ireland’s best, first winning 27-15 against Leinster in the RDS and then 4622 against Munster in the final.
However, Leinster’s European campaign has been a testament to not only winning, but winning any which way.
They were six out of six in a pool that required them to visit Exeter, Montpellier and Glasgow.
And, in the quarter-finals, they expertly decommissioned the threat presented by defending champions, Saracens.
Crucially, those victories were achieved in different ways: they have the talent to play like the Scarlets, but they also know how to lock a match down and do what is needed to achieve a result.
‘You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to win,’ said Isa Nacewa yesterday.
‘We have to trust we’ve learned lessons from last year. Take Exeter away: it wasn’t a pretty, flash game but we did what we had to do to win it. ‘The forwards rolled up their sleeves and did the hard work. I’ll take a 3-0 win every day of the week.’
And that could be a decisive difference between the sides: Leinster know the ugly side of winning, whereas the ambition that courses through the Scarlets, the daring and the bravery to always try and be expansive, conditions them to play one way.
Championship-winning teams always have a Plan B, and usually C.
The references to last year’s league semi-final between the sides were an obvious feature of this week, but the game’s relevance must be questioned; seven of the eight Leinster forwards starting today didn’t start that match, for instance.
Its value to Leinster could lie in its emotional power, and the possibility of it stirring up some useful emotions.
‘We didn’t put our best selves out that day and that’s what we have to do tomorrow,’ said Johnny Sexton. ‘Play our best and see where that gets us.
‘They beat us well on the day playing really well. People thought that might be a one-off and then they went and did the same thing to Munster so they proved, and this season again, that they weren’t flukes. They are a very good side and we know about them now, which is an advantage.’ One of the outstanding features of the Scarlets last term and this has been Tadhg Beirne. He was a Leinster graduate who left under Cullen’s watch.
His return to the Irish system next season comes at Munster, not his native province.
‘I had a really good chat to Tadhg, actually, after the game in the RDS,’ said Cullen, of the league meeting earlier this spring.
‘I wished him well. We had two tight games (against the Scarlets) in the Six Nations, one where we had a tight game in the RDS and a drawn game across in Parc y Scarlets.
‘Tadhg is going well. You wish guys well that come through the system. He’s come through the academy. Various things didn’t quite go his way in that period, but you’ve got to admire what he’s done since.
‘Players will leave the system. You hope they don’t come back to haunt you in the manner Tadhg has,’ added Cullen.
He will be a menace to Leinster today, in set-pieces and in the loose, and he is only one of the forwards they possess that can engage with the running game drilled by Pivac.
A dry, bright day as promised for Dublin today will encourage them further, but Leinster’s forward play has been distinguished this term.
Their scrum is outstanding, powered by Ireland’s Grand Slam props, while James Ryan’s athleticism and sheer talent in the second row has been an enormous addition.
So too is the form of Dan Leavy at openside, and he, Fardy and Jordi Murphy will operate as interchangeable loose forwards charged with spoiling as much Scarlets ball as they can.
The loss of Luke McGrath is significant, but the return of Robbie Henshaw is a terrific lift.
He provides a defensive obduracy in midfield that Nacewa could not match, but, even at 35, shifting the latter to the wing is not the risk some Welsh observers have presumed.
Nacewa has been in good form, too, while Rob Kearney has this term shown a level of excellence that made him a star on the 2009 Lions tour.
And at the heart of their effort is Sexton at out-half.
He was imperious in guiding Ireland to a Grand Slam, and looked confident and at ease yesterday.
‘We are lucky that when a lot of other countries have Six Nations success, or a Grand Slam, maybe their players come back and they are not as motivated,’ pointed out Sexton.
‘Whereas with us we care so much about playing for Leinster we were in on the Tuesday after the English game working on Saracens straight away.
‘We’ve had bits of time off as well to refresh the body and mind and get ready for this week and hopefully bigger games beyond as well.’
They will have a bigger game to prepare for, because they look too good for the Scarlets. The threat the latter bring has been well signalled.
But Leinster can respond with a series of challenges of their own. They can win this match in more than one style.
They will not be denied.