Leinster’s JACQUES IN THE BOX
Nienaber’s influence will imbue the team with mental grit they’ll need to get over the line
LIKE poor Sisyphus in that grim Greek myth, Leinster’s agonising quest to land a fifth European title has been positively soul destroying. Twice, these players have rolled that Champions Cup-shaped boulder up that hill, only to watch it roll back down again.
For the third season in a row, Leo Cullen and Co find themselves just short of the summit.
Victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this afternoon will exorcise many demons and place this talented squad in a strong position to do something very special in the years ahead. If they get this one over the line, they have the capacity to win many more in the years ahead.
Jordie Barrett and RG Snyman are arriving in the summer, and all the players in this squad will be walking a bit taller in jerseys bearing that elusive fifth star.
Defeat, however, would be edging on the catastrophic. The sheer trauma from a hat-trick of Champions Cup final losses would leave lasting scars. The URC – which Leinster haven’t claimed since 2021 – is far from guaranteed either.
If this outfit go three seasons with no trophy to show for their efforts, there will be major ramifications. For a squad with this talent and depth, that is simply unacceptable. No pressure, lads. That’s the thing about finals. Often, it’s the team which copes better with the nerves that gets the job done. These meetings can be tense and fraught affairs. Nailbiters decided by a few telling moments.
Which brings us to Jacques Nienaber. The former Springboks coach was lured to Leinster for weeks like these.
Cullen believed that Nienaber, for all his coaching talents, could bring something unquantifiable to this playing group: a bit more mental grit in the rarefied air of knockout rugby.
Because these players, whether on club or international rugby, have been found wanting on the big days.
Whether it’s World Cup quarter-finals or European title bouts, these players have consistently suffered the yips on the big days.
South Africa, meanwhile, are the kings of clutch. Ireland have never won a World Cup knockout Gifted: Toulouse superstar Antoine Dupont yesterday game. The Boks have win six of them, back-to-back, to claim successive world titles in 2019 and 2023.
Indeed, they won a quarter-final, semi-final and final by a single point in last year’s tournament in France. Nienaber’s lads consistently dug in and found a way to win.
He has brought his famed blitz defence to Leinster’s ranks but, behind the scenes, he has sought to infuse these players with a more ruthless streak.
There have definitely been signs of a steelier side this term. Witness the fearsome dismantling of their former tormentors La Rochelle.
The semi-final win against Northampton was flawed, but the sheer doggedness to repel a late rally from the visitors would have impressed Nienaber.
Now, Leinster face their biggest challenge of the season on the biggest stage. If they can get their heads screwed on, silence the demons and get in the groove, they have the personnel – backed up by a blockbuster bench – to get the job done here.
They will be heartened by the recent record against the French giants in this tournament, winning three consecutive semi-final meetings (in 2019, 2022 and 2023) by an aggregate score of 111-51.
Speaking of stats, Toulouse have won eight consecutive finals – in the Top14 and Europe.
The last team to beat them at this stage of a competition? Munster at the Principality Stadium in 2008. Something has got to give in London. This is a meeting of European royalty, with these stellar teams sharing nine titles between them.
Remarkably, this is the first time that Leinster and Toulouse will meet in a Champions Cup final.
All the pressure seems to be on Leinster shoulders as well. And a relaxed, confident Toulouse team
‘Gibson-Park has taken his game to another level’
spells trouble. Ugo Mola’s side is laden with quality.
Their giant pack features France internationals Cyril Baille, Peato Mauvaka, Thibaud Flament and Francois Cros, as well as 145kg man mountain Emmanuel Meafou, who has recently broken into the Les Bleus ranks. Julien Marchand is a pretty handy player to have in reserve as well.
In Matthis Lebel, exciting young centre – Paul Costes and Scotland international full-back Blair Kinghorn, Toulouse have no shortage of running threats.
Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack are the shows of the show, however. What more can you say about the mercurial scrum-half? Dupont is a generational talent who will go down as an all-time great.
He has the same aura as Lionel Messi. A player who can bend games to his will. Ntamack is the cool, collected character who weaves it all together.
We’re set for a hot day and a dry track at Spurs HQ. Perfect conditions for Toulouse. If we see Dupont and his mates running free and offloading with glee, then Leinster – regardless of their mental state – are in big trouble.
Cullen and his coaching team have selected a matchday to prepare for such an eventuality. Will Connors is back for more special ops on the openside flank.
As he did to great effect in both European wins against La Rochelle this season, Connors will look to scythe down Toulouse’s big beasts before Josh van der Flier and the rest of Leinster’s ‘Bomb Squad’ are sent into the fray to up the ante against a tiring Toulouse side in the second half. That’s the plan, anyway. Hugo Keenan’s return is a huge fillip as well. The ever-reliable full-back’s consistent brilliant is almost taken for grant these days, be it in a blue or green jersey.
If Dupont is the best player on the planet, then Jamison Gibson-Park is probably a close second at the moment. The Leinster scrum-half has taken his game to another level in recent times.
Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, Joe McCarthy and Caelan Doris are all in rich veins of form, while Ryan Baird is growing into a Test-standard blindside. Baird has the ability to be Rocky Elsom 2.0. Today is no better time to show the world what he can do.
Ross Byrne may not be the flashiest of out-halves, but he doesn’t go missing in big moments. The sight of James Ryan and Jack Conan arriving from the bench is a galvaniser, too.
All these things should give Leinster confidence that this final will be different.
It won’t be easy. It never is. They’ve been up this hill enough times. Today might finally be the day when they reach the top.