SUFFICIENT TIME HAS passed to take the edge of frustration off Sunday’s slip-up in France.
Leinster have recognised, analysed and taken stock of their mistakes against Toulouse, focusing now on making good of their painful experience at the Stade Ernest Wallon.
Returning to work this week with those lessons in defeat having sharpened minds, the eastern province are intent on getting back to doing what they do best this weekend, as they travel to face Benetton in the Guinness Pro14.
If the disappointment of defeat does serve as a more instructive process than the sustained success Leinster have experienced in the last 12 months, Sunday’s loss — their first in 10 European games — will represent a valuable learning curve for Leo Cullen’s side.
Leinster were quick to identify the areas which contributed to their downfall on Sunday, admitting there were too many inaccuracies in their performance, particularly in the first and last quarters of a high-octane European contest, while also honing in on the individual errors which cost them.
After the crushing defeat of Wasps in round one, the defending champions were brought rudely back down to earth by a resurgent Toulouse outfit.
“I think the key things we talked about were the first 20 and the last 20,” Stuart Lancaster said yesterday. “You know, when you go to France, and I think Clermont told us this in the semi-final [two years ago], when you go to those high intense French atmospheres, you need to start well and you need to take the energy out of the crowd and I think we did the opposite. We gave them three points, six points.
“They played well, no doubt they were one of the best teams we played against in terms of the uniqueness of how they played, they did the homework and key ball players played very well. But it was disappointing to give them that 14-point start, we then fight hard to get to 27-21 with 60 minutes gone, to then throw an intercept and one or two what I would call mental errors — a missed lineout, this that and the other.”
On the match-turning and defining moment, when Luke McGrath’s intended pass for Jack Conan was read and intercepted by Louis Madaule, before Maxime Médard finished off a clinical counter-attack from the Top 14 side, Lancaster said: “There’s a bit of luck, certainly. Whether they’ve seen us do it on previous occasions, I mean you don’t run the same plays all the time. I just think you’ve got to give them and their coaches credit.
“They prepared their team well, they played a good brand and it was a great game of rugby. Small margins could have gone our way and we would have been happy, but we’re not happy, which is probably not a bad thing for us.”
The hope is that defeat, particularly in the circumstances, will produce a reaction from Leinster. Not just this weekend when they travel to Italy, but moving forward this season.
“It has taught us a good lesson,” the senior coach continued.
“I mean the difference between this game and the Clermont game is that the Clermont game was a semi-final, we never got a second chance, whereas in this scenario we can take a lot from that and understand that if you look at Europe last year, it was pretty unique that any team won six and lost none.
“In fact, I think most teams who qualified won four and lost two — Clermont, Munster. Saracens won three, drew one and lost two and still qualified. So there’s still 20 points to play for and we’re on six, but we have to learn the lesson because we definitely, with the atmosphere and intensity of the crowd, it definitely effected some of our decision-making under pressure and we need to be better at that.”
Lancaster also believes the fact several members of the Leinster side — notably James Ryan and Jordan Larmour — had not experienced that partisan French atmosphere before could have contributed to the visitors becoming uncomfortable in chaos.
The reality was the first 20 minutes and the last 20 minutes weren’t good enough to win against a team that were playing very very well. And as experienced a team as we have, there’s also a lot of players who haven’t been in that environment before. So you might look at the Leinster team and go ‘Oh jeez, they’ve all been in it’, but James Ryan, other than maybe that Ireland-France game, Jordan Larmour probably never been in that sort of environment. It’s just different.
“The Clermont semi-final reminded me of when England played France in France, my second or third year in charge, I think it was 16-3 to France, and we got back to winning with a Luther Burrell try and then [Gael] Fickou scored on the last play and it reminded me of the same thing.
“So it’s just different. I think we needed to have been… I could have prepared them better for that.”
With the November internationals coming into sharp focus, Leinster will travel to face Benetton on Saturday with a different look to their side, but there will be no shortage of experience with Seán O’Brien, Jack McGrath, Rob Kearney and Dan Leavy all in contention to start.
Not only are the province bidding to bounce back from last weekend’s defeat, but avenge the humbling loss to Benetton at the RDS towards the end of last season, when the Italians recorded a famous result in Dublin.
While Cullen will have plenty of firepower at his disposal for the clash at the Stadio Monigo, with players keen to seize their chance and stake a claim for selection over the international window, Leinster will be without the unfortunate Fergus McFadden.
The winger suffered a ‘high grade’ hamstring injury in training last week and is facing an extended period on the sideline having missed the end of last season with a similar problem.
Leinster are waiting for the opinion of a specialist to determine the direction of McFadden’s rehab but when asked how long the 32-year-old will be out for, Lancaster added: “It won’t be two weeks, that’s for sure.”
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