THE TERM ‘FINALS rugby’ gets thrown around too freely by players and coaches but the coming week will certainly have a feel of all-or-nothing for Leinster.
This could be a defining week for the province’s season. Beat La Rochelle in their Champions Cup quarter-final meeting this weekend and the province will be in pole position to land a first European title since 2018. Lose, and they remain nearly-men, having fallen at the hands of La Rochelle in each of the last three seasons – losing a 2021 semi-final in France before Ronan O’Gara’s men came out on top in the 2022 and 2023 finals.
The winners of this latest rematch will still have to win two more games to be crowned champions, but it doesn’t really get any bigger than this, with the match expected to be a 5.30pm kick-off at Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Leinster booked their place in the last eight with an unconvincing victory over Leicester Tigers last night, and while Leo Cullen’s men were certainly off colour against the English side, the feeling brewing throughout the season is that they are tracking in the right direction as they look to end a near six-year wait for European silverware.
Yet the signs of progress that have been on display across the campaign were worryingly absent yesterday.
Leinster are getting more comfortable with Jacques Nienaber’s defensive system, but they were defensively suspect against a Tigers team missing some of their strongest ball-carriers. The set-piece was messy and their discipline slipped. Leinster have the attacking quality to survive such lapses against a depleted Tigers team, but it will be a different story when La Rochelle come to town.
Speaking after the game, Cullen admitted his team will need to sharpen up as they prepare to take on the back-to-back European champions again, with La Rochelle coming from behind to beat the Stormers in their own round of 16 game on Saturday.
“It depends how they well they play,” Cullen said.
“The main thing is just to control what we can and that’s prepare well now. Prepare well for another 80-minute game.
Some good, some bad today. We will need lots of good next week, I would imagine, but it’s a great challenge isn’t it?
“I watched a bit of their game. The Stormers obviously built a decent lead, but they showed good composure. They are a pretty streetwise team. They know when to kill the game at different stages.
“We need to have a new plan and be ready for the challenge next week. We have seen plenty of each other over the last couple of seasons.”
Perhaps the biggest challenge facing Leinster is how to deal with La Rochelle’s fearsome power game, with their old nemesis, Will Skelton once again at the heart of their comeback win against the Stormers.
Leinster do appear to have added more aggression to their game this season – most notably in the pool stage win against La Rochelle back in December – and they’ll have to bring the same bite to next weekend’s rematch at the Aviva.
The expected absence of James Ryan, who hasn’t played any rugby since getting injured midway through Ireland’s Six Nations campaign, could be significant. Ryan had a frustrating experience during the Six Nations but was outstanding before being forced off against La Rochelle in last year’s decider, while the lock also helped set the tone at the Stade Marcel Deflandre earlier this season.
Leinster’s pool win in December will serve as an important physiological boost for the province this week, but this rematch will take its own course. Cullen was quick to point to the fact that when the teams last met, the driving rain had a big say on how the game was played.
“The conditions were very difficult that day. What type of leveller does that make it?
“It was a bit of a set-piece grind, a lot of kicking, so we will see what the conditions are like, if there are any storms coming in next week.
It’s an exciting challenge, that’s what you want. You want to be testing yourself against the best teams that are out there. And La Rochelle have obviously won the tournament and beat us in two finals.
“We managed to get a win against them in round one this year but it’s good two good teams going at it, and it’s a hugely exciting challenge.”
Another chance for Leinster to test themselves against the competition’s standard bearers, and another opportunity for Cullen to test his wits against O’Gara, who appears eager to get back on home soil – La Rochelle are due to fly to Cork today ahead of a full week of prep in Ireland.
“We always have a bit of a laugh,” Cullen said of the La Rochelle boss.
“He bought us breakfast the last day, so we’ll see what we do now this week.”
Leinster saw Hugo Keenan, Ross Byrne and Cian Healy all come off with knocks against Leicester, but didn’t report any major concerns post-game.
The province will provide another update on tomorrow, as they head into the biggest week of their season.
