BIT LIKE A WORLD CUP
Lancaster and Leinster braced for gruelling campaign with little margin for error as the big games will come thick and fast
IT’S been a long wait, but competitive rugby will return to this island in 11 days’ time and what a way to start. Even though it will take place in front of empty stands at Ireland HQ, Leinster v Munster at the Aviva on Saturday week will be box office. In normal times, it would have been the hottest ticket in town. Such is the reality of the IRFU’s player management system, it is rare that we see the provinces fully-loaded for a good old-fashioned derby clash.
It’s even more bizarre to see both of these teams locking horns so early in the season. It’s a point not lost on Stuart Lancaster, who is getting his squad primed for that seismic encounter on August 22.
This will be a season like no other and Leinster – and the other provinces – will have little time to ease into things. There are no preseason games and little margin for error in the months ahead.
Munster are first up and the proposed schedule is relentless after that. Leinster remain in the hunt for the Pro14 and the European Champions Cup before they almost seamlessly move into the new season and all the new challenges that brings.
Lancaster knows that his squad will have to hit the ground running in the coming weeks. Easier said than done after a five-month hiatus.
‘It’s critical. Not important, it’s critical,’ said the Leinster senior coach. ‘It’s pretty unique, the circumstances. If you go through the timeline, which we have done.
‘We’ve presented this to the players: We go Munster, massive interpro game and they need to beat us because they want a home semi-final, then Ulster who are flying at the moment and made some great recruitment, as have Munster.
‘Then we’ve got a PRO14 semifinal, we need to win that in order to get to a PRO14 final. If we manage to win those games, then you’ve got to follow a PRO14 final with a European Cup quarter-final against Saracens, and a week after that you’ve to play a European Cup semi-final against Clermont or Racing.’
‘So, it’s a pretty unique scenario where you have to peak right at the start of the season and deliver and win.
‘The closest comparison I can make is that it’s a bit like a World Cup in that you’ve got to win your pool games, then you’ve got to win a quarter and semi-final.
‘The difference is this time you’ve to do it without any warm-up games. We see it as hugely important to hit the ground running.
‘There will be elements of rustiness, I’m sure, but I think that the more we can create competition within training and make it game-related as possible at the end of last week, this week and next week running into the Munster game... this week becomes critical in that situation.’
Leinster were on a seemingly unstoppable unbeaten run of 21 games – in all competitions – before the lockdown. Not that they eased off in recent months when the season went on ice.
Arguably the best club team in the northern hemisphere, the Leinster brains trust sought out the advice of the Crusaders – New Zealand’s outstanding Super Rugby franchise – for a meeting of minds over Zoom calls.
‘It was excellent, really, obviously you’ve seen how good they are, they’ve just gone and won that Super Rugby competition,’ said Lancaster.
‘I had an initial conversation with Angus Gardiner, who is the CEO, which led to me having a chat with (head coach) Scott Robertson and then we arranged a couple of Zoom calls between the coaching teams to share ideas of northern hemisphere, southern hemisphere rugby.
‘We shared ideas of how we constructed training weeks, what would a Monday look like leading through to Saturday, and then we had the exercise where we were imaginary playing them and trying to beat them, and they did the same to us.
‘So it was interesting, obviously you’re learning a lot about how teams would try and attack and break you down, and hopefully they learned as much from us as well. ‘So it was mutually beneficial. I think obviously they’ve gone and won (Super Rugby Aotearoa), so hopefully it works for us as well.’ There has been much speculation about a Club World Cup in the coming seasons. Certainly, a meeting between Leinster and the Crusaders would be fascinating and Lancaster agreed. ‘A lot will depend, I guess, without going too much into the politics of it or into the whole global season, but if you’re involved with CVC and these types of TV deals and everything else, that surely has to be something the club game has to strive towards, where you have some form of World Club challenge.
‘It’s been mooted as every four years and maybe that’s just the way it is, but you’d love to play the teams like that and pit your wits against them.’
For now, they are suiting up for the looming visit of their arch rivals. There has rarely been a spare seat at one of these meetings for the best part of 20 years, but Saturday week’s game will take place in an echo chamber.
Vast swathes of empty stands will greet both teams as they run out at the Aviva. Adjusting to that new normal was top of the agenda during a team meeting yesterday.
‘A lot of our training takes place behind closed doors,’ Lancaster explained.
‘A lot of our internal competition that we generate is there so the players are used to training and putting performances in training sessions without people watching.
‘We trained last week at the RDS, as an example, with a referee to replicate what it looks and feels like. We have talked about it. You can look at examples from German football which was the first one back and there were stats about more away wins.
‘I was watching Leeds Rhinos yesterday at home and they lost 48-0 against St Helens.
‘It will be different but it is up to us to generate our own atmosphere, energy and enthusiasm because normally you rely on that RDS or Aviva crowd to help you with that. If you were to ask the players what would you take they would definitely take playing behind closed doors.
‘For the sporting public as well, I would hope that they would take that too. We’re just delighted to just train, which is amazing, and then to play competitive rugby.
‘People will enjoy it from home I am sure and if things improve hopefully we can get some crowds in. It definitely has been talked about.’
In England, Premiership teams have already been briefed about turning the air blue during games with TV mics primed to pick up any effing and blinding on the pitch. ‘It will be fascinating, won’t it, because it’s not just the Ps and Qs,’ Lancaster added.
‘It’s the calls as well. Do you do them in secret behind your hands? We need to be respectful of each other as much as we can. They are a very polite group!’
Challenges aplenty, but you get the feeling that Lancaster and Leinster are relishing it.
“You have to peak at start of the season” “There will be elements of rustiness” “It’s up to us to generate some atmosphere”