LEINSTER CONTINUE GOLD RUN
Ulster latest to be brushed off
SUCH is the crest of the wave the increasingly stylish Leinster are surfing this season, the only riddle unsolved by Saturday’s latest demolition derby was why can’t they sell out the RDS.
The 18,500-capacity ground is due for a revamp which would increase accommodation despite current ticket availability — and the clinically consistent way Leo Cullen’s side are playing should have an excess of people locked out at a sold-out RDS for every fixture.
It’s not as if widespread support doesn’t exist. The province is rightly proud of how it can attract 40,000-plus attendances on the two regular season occasions they play down the road at Aviva Stadium.
However, this popularity doesn’t fully transfer back to the RDS which is a pity as the atmosphere generated by their more regular supporters is excellent just now.
Their unbridled enthusiasm is an excellent reflection on how Cullen and co are going about their business this winter. A full house next Sunday against Glasgow in Europe is the least they deserve.
Buoyed by their comeback Champions Cup win over English champions Exeter, the various types of victory chalked up in recent weeks against the three other provinces illustrates how they certainly are not a one-dimensional side.
Instead, they are entertainers on both sides of the ball and the way they rotated resources to ensure they came through their daunting derby schedule was testament to the squad depth nurtured since the dim and distant days of two winters ago when they fell asunder in Europe and the future looked bleak for Cullen in the head coach role.
The former skipper now looks the part in the tracksuit position, his increasing confidence in taking no prisoners illustrated by his snappy shutdown of a Saturday query regarding the half-time removal of Tadhg Furlong for a HIA he didn’t return from.
Three weeks earlier, Cullen was besieged by the amateur doctors in the media following some head knocks suffered by his players versus the Chiefs. He gave them an inch and they took a mile.
Here, when asked was the treatment the tighthead needed on his left arm after stretching to tackle Christian Lealiifano midway through the first half connected to the dressing room interval HIA manoeuvre, the coach used the query as his opportunity to bite back following the pre-Christmas post-game onslaught.
‘I don’t think so. I don’t know for certain. I’d have to look back at that. I was told at half-time we were going to put him through HIA, we go back out and I was told Tadhg is not going to come back on.
‘That is the way the information gets relayed to me. I am just relaying the information that gets relayed to me to you guys [in the media]. Okay? So, just to clear up what is a HIA, does everybody know what a HIA and how that assessment works? Do they? The information is out there.’
Garry Ringrose (ankle) and James Tracy (elbow) were Leinster’s other two casualties on a bitterly cold evening where injuries were the only thing to smudge the sheen of a comprehensive 38-7 victory where two-try rookie Jordan Larmour wasn’t alone in warming the heart with his excellent contribution.
Veteran Fergus McFadden matched the 20-year-old on the scoreboard, adding two tries of his own, and while Barry Daly and Johnny Sexton completed the haul of a half-dozen tries all scored by backs, their forwards also packed an impressive punch. Other rookies, such as the starting Josh Murphy and sub Andrew Porter, even rose above their inexperience to shine.
‘It’s positive because guys are putting their hands up,’ chirped Cullen. ‘That is what you want to have, tough decisions.’
While the Leinster coach is set for positively lengthy deliberations as to who to leave out against the Warriors in six days’ time, his miserable-sounding Ulster counterpart Les Kiss will be embracing the opposite challenge — deciding which few players are worthy of reselection next Saturday versus La Rochelle after so many played their way out of contention.
Not only with Saturday’s surrender but also the shabby manner of their embarrassment at Galway and their non-appearance in the home first half against Munster.
Frivolous carries (the stripping of Darren Cave and Rodney Ah You led to two tries, with a poor knocked-on Jean Deysel pass conceding the scrum for a third), cheap kicking (a Lealiifano punt prompted another concession),
and soft penalties (no release on the deck and a collapsed scrum) instigated the Leinster scores.
It was an all-round mess typical of the inconsistencies repeatedly stifling Ulster momentum. Rory Best at least proved his fitness following his lay-off, but whatever quick fix they concoct for next weekend against the French won’t include Tommy Bowe whose shoulder injury in the lead-up to Jacob Stockdale’s late consolation could sideline him for up to eight weeks.
The IRFU have apparently rubber-stamped another overseas out-half to arrive when shortterm signing Lealiifano exits after Wasps away on January 21 (Quade Cooper, anyone?), but beating Rochelle is the only focus for Kiss at the moment.
‘If Wasps is to become a reality, everything is about this game,’ he said.
It sure is following another chastening demolition derby.