Leo’s Leinster weather a storm at The Rec and head home with big questions
LEO CULLEN cut a relieved figure on Saturday night, Leinster’s head coach knew his side had weathered a storm — in every sense of the word.
It pelted it down for most of the evening in Bath with a freezing gale thrown in for good measure. You could only admire the hardy souls who packed into the north and south stands at the Recreation Ground. There is little in the way of protection from the elements on those exposed terraces. Just as well there was a gripping contest unfolding on the pitch.
Bath are having an underwhelming season on the domestic front and are missing a host of frontline players, but they were fired up for the visit of the reigning champs.
Their head coach Todd Blackadder had his squad in a huddle about an hour before kick-off and he looked like he was reading the riot act. Some inside knowledge from Girven Dempsey certainly helped as well. It looks like he’s picked up a few things from Stuart Lancaster on the coaching front. At one stage during the prematch warm-up, both sides were seemingly running through the same continuity drill at opposite ends of the field, with Dempsey and Lancaster orchestrating matters. Lancaster may have looked down the pitch and had a wry smile to himself when he saw that.
You could point to the adverse conditions, the heavy pitch, (the confiscated flags?) or rustiness as elements in Leinster’s lacklustre performance, but the most compelling factor in Saturday night’s battle royal was the presence of Sam Underhill and Francois Louw in Bath’s backrow.
England have spent a generation trying to find an openside with the the breakdown nous and aura of Neil Back and their long search could be over with Underhill on board. The 22-year-old was phenomenal against the All Blacks at Twickenham last month and he delivered a similar display of bareknuckle intensity against Leinster. Underhill was ably assisted by the wily veteran Springbok Louw, who was a menace at the breakdown all evening.
Cullen had prepared for their twin threat by deploying Josh van der Flier and Dan Leavy, out of position at No8, in the backrow but they struggled to rid the rucks of Bath’s arch poachers. Devising a plan to negate their breakdown threat at Lansdowne Road next Saturday night will be top of the agenda at Leinster HQ this week.
‘They have been very good,’ said Cullen on Bath’s back row unit.
‘We even looked at some of the international games with Louw and Underhill, how effective they are, how they get into the space and so on.
‘They’re two of the best guys in the world. Louw has been doing it for 12 years probably.
‘You see how strong he is and he’s had a tonne of experience at the top level since.
‘We’ll need to be on top of our game. We’re playing the same team next week so it’s a kind of a review then straight into a preview.’
That’s the thing about these European double-headers, there is little time to ruminate about past failings. Saturday’s hardfought win gave Cullen plenty to think about on the flight back to Dublin yesterday.
He may opt for specialist No8 Jack Conan’s power from the start in Dublin while he may also consider a bit more ballast at inside centre in place of the composed but relatively lightweight Noel Reid.
First and foremost, he will want out-half Johnny Sexton back out on the paddock running matters.
The sight of Sexton limping off in the dying minutes was not a welcome one.
Joe Schmidt might have raised an eyebrow when he heard that Sexton was a late casualty in Bath. He would have been positively alarmed when word filtered through that Joey Carbery withdrew from the Munster line-up at the 11th hour in Limerick yesterday. The wait to see Carbery and Conor Murray working in tandem goes on. Losing Chris Farrell, who has looked sharp since his return from a long-term knee injury this month, during the warm-up was hardly ideal either. JJ Hanrahan and Sammy Arnold were thrust into action and Munster, understandably, struggled for fluency in a first half where they dominated the territory and possession stats. Castres took a fair bit of softening up but that 30-5 win sets them up nicely at the top of Pool 2. The French champions will be a totally different proposition on their home turf next week, however. If Munster can plunder the Stade PierreFabre they will be in great shape heading into Christmas. That Friday night visit to Gloucester on January 11 is looking like a season-defining fixture for Johann van Graan’s men.
Speaking of seismic dates, Ulster will welcome a wounded Scarlets to Belfast fresh from their stunning 24-25 win in Llanelli.
Dan McFarland’s side can’t boast the depth of their provincial brethren, but when they manage to get their frontline players out on the pitch, they look a match for anyone.
Will Addison’s stock continues to rise following his summer arrival from Sale Sharks. He outplayed his opposite number Jonathan Davies, a man who has started six consecutive Lions Tests.
If Ulster can do the double on the Welsh side at Ravenhill, they can look forward to January meetings with Racing (home) and Leicester (away) with renewed optimism. A first appearance in the last eight since 2014 is well within their grasp.
Connacht ensured another Irish clean sweep in Europe with a 2210 victory over an under-strength Perpignan in the Challenge Cup.
It wasn’t the prettiest, but that was a fourth consecutive win under Andy Friend’s tenure.
Let the good times roll.
“We will need
to be on top of our game next week” “You can see how strong he (Louw) is. He’s at the top level”