Leinster finally pay the price for their cynicism
EVERY journo is surely allowed one “told you so” moment in their career and mine arrived last night when Leinster, off the scale brilliant for the first 12 minutes and indeed for long periods of the first half, blew a 17 point lead and their chance to win that much sought after fifth Champions Cup final.
La Rochelle’s resilience, ticker and sheer bloody excellence was obviously at the heart of a thrilling comeback but so was referee Jaco Peyper’s belated, but welcome, decision to suddenly start pinging Leinster in the second half for their numerous illegalities at the breakdown.
Let’s be frank. Leinster, and to a slightly lesser extent Ireland, have been getting away with murder throughout their rent pomp. Flying in off their feet like heat seeking missiles, diving in from the side, taking out players way beyond the ball, hands on the ground. You name it, they do it. Expertly, but illegally.
It’s a dangerous game they play though – metaphorically and physically – as I pointed out after Leinster’s thumping 55-24 quarter-final win over Leicester when it became apparent they were virtually unbeatable. Virtually.
“Their one achilles heel might yet be officialdom,” I wrote as I wrapped up my match report. “To these eyes they still, to an extraordinary degree, dive in off their feet at the breakdown and take out players ahead of the ruck. As with the All Blacks in their pomp, Leinster and indeed Ireland seem to wear a cloak of immunity at present, the almost inevitable reward for being such a great team generally... but should a referee suddenly take against their modus operandi in a big match it could be extremely disruptive.”
That moment came yesterday when Leinster, to quote the Bard, finally sat down to their banquet of consequences. Something clicked mentally with the referee midway through the second half and the penalties finally started arriving, a trickle at first, then in a rush followed by a long overdue yellow card, with Ronan Kelleher copping that.
Finally with the game still there for the wining Leinster laid late siege and Michael Ala’alatoa dived in off his feet and knocked out George-Henri Colombe. The Samoa prop looked surprised and to a certain extent I get that. It was a fairly bog standard Leinster clear out... but this time refereed correctly.
A Leinster scrum five yards out became a La Rochelle penalty kick to touch and then Josh de Flier came around offside from that and was also pinged for a routine penalty. La Rochelle ran the clock down and a second European title on the bounce was theirs.
La Rochelle are a magnificent whole hearted side full of civic pride and a club who attract outstanding value for money overseas stars. And of course, they have Ronan O’Gara as coach and predictably his team play with the same passion and belief in miracle wins as his beloved Munster.
A Venn diagram of these two teams would be all enveloping. As with Munster of old their home ground is a fortress and sold out every other Saturday and as with Munster the team is greater than the sum of the parts.
It’s worth bearing in mind that two of La Rochelle’s standout players week in week out arrived at the then Pro D2 side ten years ago as unheralded Pacific Islanders. Levani Botia had recently quit his job as a prison warden in Suva while Samoa U20 prop Uni Atonio, who has been cut by Counties Manukau, decided to give up his job as an actor with his brother’s Black Friars company who toured New Zealand, working their way through the Shakespearian canon. “There is a world elsewhere” to quote his favourite Shakespeare character Coriolanus.
Finally back to Leinster for a minute. I derive no pleasure in criticising them so directly because in every other respect they represent the very best of the modern game. I don’t give a damn about their alleged bottomless pit of money and the inherent advantages that brings. Good on them I say.
No, what I see mainly is a brilliant rugby culture of highly skilled, incredibly fit players and an academy system second to none. They are a complete joy to watch… but a cynicism and disregard for the laws crept in, went unpunished, and they paid a horrible price when that was finally corrected in a huge game.
Their massive Ireland contingent must learn the lesson. The 2023 Champions Cup is history... but there is still a World Cup to be won.