LEINSTER ARE UP and running in Europe, but Saturday’s 45-20 win over Bath represented another strange installment to what has so far been a strange season for Leo Cullen’s squad.
They won by 25 points, reaching the bonus point mark midway through the first half, but this was far from Leinster at their free-flowing, powerful best. Passes spilled loose, the scrum struggled at times, and with the benches emptied, Leinster couldn’t exert the same control across the final quarter.
Cullen knows that against more testing opposition, that simply won’t cut it. In his post-match media conference, he was quick to touch on the fact that his side had lost the final 20 minutes 7-0.
That lack of cohesion has cropped up too often across the early half of this season for his liking. You can go back to the laboured one-point win over the Dragons in early October, or the surprise defeat to Ulster just after the November international break.
The deeper into the season Leinster go, the less room for error. On Friday the province head to the south of France for a clash with Montpellier – who were well beaten in Exeter last night – and after seeing his team take the foot off the gas in the second half against Bath, Cullen warned his players they won’t get away with doing the same at the GGL Stadium.
“We won’t be able to afford to do it next week it because it’s a whole different beast that we are taking on,” he said.
Montpellier, you just look at the depth to their squad, the quality of international players that they have there. They’ve close to an unlimited budget. They are very, very ambitious there. They are motoring on pretty well in the Top 14 at the moment, sitting third.
“Montpelier sent a funny selection to Exeter, so the general message is that they have got their big stars resting up this week ready for our game. It’s a good challenge for us.”
Beaten long before the half time whistle had sounded, it was interesting to hear the view of the Bath camp. Winless from nine in the Premiership and hammered in their opening game of the Champions Cup, how they’d love to have Leinster’s problems.
“This is as close to a Test match as you get in club rugby, they are near enough an international side,” said their captain, Charlie Ewels.
“We had the upper hand around the scrum at times, and the lineout. You saw the difference in quality around some of the open phase stuff and their ability to hold the ball and move the ball and their decision making.”
“The speed of ball they get is very good,” added Bath director of rugby, Stuart Hooper.
The difference is the breakdown on both sides. They are very efficient on their own ball, very good getting the ball to the width on the back of that. They are very competitive when we’re on the ball as well. They are a quality team.”
It’s hard to be too critical of a seven-try, bonus point win in Europe, but Leinster set high standards for themselves, and across those handful of disjointed performances this year there has been enough to suggest that for all their depth, for the most part the gap between the team’s frontline players and the supporting squad is still a gap, rather than a fine line.
This is a new-look season for club teams, with smaller blocks of fixtures to negotiate and long international breaks to sit out. That lack of a regular run of matches has fed into a feeling that Leinster’s season is yet to really get going. They sold just over 25,000 tickets for this early December Champions Cup fixture, which has usually been a popular date in the calendar for the province’s supporters.
Still, Leinster got the job done without the likes of Johnny Sexton, Robbie Henshaw, Jack Conan and James Ryan – to name just a handful – and they will all hope to come back into the mix over the busy Christmas period.
One player who will look to push for further involvement in the big days is Ciarán Frawley. The 24-year-old was comfortable on just his second European start and slotted in at out-half for the closing stages, adding some flashes of quality as Leinster’s control on the contest loosened.
“He’s covered that (position) for us in the past where he has played or been on the bench; it gives us great flexibility,” Cullen said.
“Sometimes we have gone with a 6-2 split (on the bench) in the past as well with his versatility because he’s even played at 15 as well. He attacks the line well, particularly at 10, made some good clean line breaks. We didn’t take advantage of them.
“I thought Ross (Byrne) steered us around the pitch well, when he went off we were 45-13 at that stage. It was good exposure for Ciarán.
“We didn’t quite deliver in the last 20 minutes because we were trying to get as big a score as possible, but it’s done now. We need to move onto the next challenge. It’s important we learn the lessons from this game.”
