LEINSTER LEGEND IS ON THE LINE

Former Kings of Europe will have their pedigree stretched by muscle and magic of Toulon usurpers

YOU’D HAVE been hard pressed amid the October rain in Dublin to imagine Leinster would still be in the Champions Cup hunt seven months later. Seated in the RDS south stand on an evening off work, surrounded by dejected home supporters who had winced at a dire first-half display, it was impossible to visualise the Matt O’Connor side we were watching were semi-finalists in the making.

This impression they were alsorans making up the numbers persisted over winter, with Leinster’s few bright moments compromised by red lights at the breakdown. Even their quarter-final 15 days ago against Bath failed to provide a convincing reminder of the clinical gallop on which they forged their reputation in those not-so-long-ago seasons when they ruled Europe with an iron fist.

It should grate uncomfortably with them that Toulon are now the club possessing this power and dominant poise, emulating Leinster’s proud run of consecutive cup wins and standing just 160 minutes away from an unprecedented hat-trick of titles.

That galling prospect should provoke a fiery response today in Marseille. So, too, the constant criticism surrounding their constant underperformance, which has sold their coach short given the rich talent at their disposal.

Some stats heading into this blockbuster lay bare their inability to string together effective passages of play. Most of all, quick ball has been at a premium, so much so that only hapless Treviso (4.8) have averaged fewer per game offloads than Leinster (5.3) this season.

Contrast that struggle with Toulon’s table-topping figure of 17.7 per game.

That other draining issue, as they continue to adjust to life without that rock-solid midfield of Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy, is missed tackles – a slippage running at 18 per game in Europe compared to the defending champions’ dozen.

The manner in which they were twice softly exposed defending the space around Devin Toner against Bath was disconcerting and needs rectifying, especially in the early part of this game and in the minutes after half-time when Toulon most like to chase down their scores.

We witnessed this in last year’s quarter-final, a mere six second-half minutes all that was needed to transform a 6-6 interval stalemate into a 16-6 lead on the back of a quickfire converted try and penalty.

Leinster insist they have learned the error of their inaccurate ways 12 months ago, suggesting they have the blueprint to now get a proper handle on Toulon, but an encouraging start will be important given their uninspired recent run of just two wins in eight.

Much as Wales did when they rocked Ireland last month, Leinster must get out of the blocks early and curry favour at the all-important breakdown with Wayne Barnes. The referee’s no-nonsense policing of this sector left Joe Schmidt’s side a dozen points down 14 minutes in, a margin that proved too much to overcome.

Ratcheting up a three, six, nine score – if possible – would lay an encouraging foundation against a Toulon team who infringe on average a dozen times per game in contrast to Leinster’s concession of eight, and the champions’ reaction under that sort of scoreboard pressure in front of their partisan home crowd, who will have arrived expecting a comfortable victory, would be most interesting.

Given Toulon’s propensity to decisively raid off broken play rather that rely on fit-again place kicker Leigh Halfpenny to kick points, they must be starved of ball-in-hand and made to force the game to leave them vulnerable.

TOULON aren’t invincible – they have lost one more league game than Leinster this season – but the onus on making a breakdown impact is on Seán O’Brien drawing the line in the sand and making good use of Bernard Laporte’s decision to hold back their groundhog Steffon Armitage on the bench.

Lineout and maul defence were also two areas where Munster gained a dividend in last year’s semi-final and those weaknesses still exist, Toulon’s set-piece rated third worst in the Top 14 so, just like O’Brien, Toner must step up and command.

There is no more scope for excuses. Today has to be the occasion where Leinster, unchanged from the stumble against Bath, deliver a seasonbest performance to vindicate an O’Connor regime struggling with coaching staff changes, underwhelming squad depth and Jimmy Gopperth’s hesitancy to seek out the gain line and ask hard questions.

If they are to lose – and there is every likelihood this will be the outcome against a Toulon selection showing six alterations from their quarter-final, with recalls for the likes of Matt Giteau and Bryan Habana – they need to go down battling in a fashion that reminds everyone just how good they can be and how deserving they are of being in Europe’s last four.

Reputations are on the line and Leinster need to live up to them.