MOST TEAMS TRY stick to strict schedules on matchdays but Leinster saw their pre-game routine take some unusual twists ahead of Saturday’s defeat of Leicester Tigers.
With one overly fussy stewart deciding the squad couldn’t walk through the usual welcoming party laid on by their travelling support, the Leinster players were forced to take a detour through a warehouse-like media room where their headphones hopefully shut out the sound of journalists chewing on a selection of Welford Road’s finest meat pies.
This came a day after Leinster had to hold their Captain’s Run standing on the Welford Road terrace due to a pitch cover laid out to prevent the turf from freezing over.
The media room run was a rare glimpse behind the scenes no Leinster player wanted. Unfortunately it wasn’t the only detour forced on visitors to Welford Road over the weekend.
Yesterday it was confirmed the province will play Leicester again in the knockouts and the fact they will enjoy home advantage will be greatly appreciated by the many Leinster supporters left stranded in Birmingham Airport as Storm Isha wreaked havoc across the UK and Ireland on Sunday evening. Your correspondent made it close enough to home to catch a glimpse of Malahide from the skies before Isha’s wild winds saw us U-turn back for an unplanned night in Birmingham.
As frustration rose through our aircraft’s aisles a sole Derby County fan, fresh from watching his team draw 0-0 at Lincoln City, reminded those wearing Leinster blue it could be worse – “At least your team won!”
Dead right. A bonus-point win – delivered courtesy of tries from Joe McCarthy, Jordan Larmour, Dan Sheehan and Caelan Doris – represents a job well done on paper but Leinster know they should be hitting greater heights. They did plenty right in Leicester but they also fell 10-0 behind and left too many good scoring opportunites behind them.
This has been the story for much of Leinster’s season to date. It hasn’t been ideal, but overall things aren’t looking too bad.
The tables tell a familiar story. Leinster lead the URC and Saturday’s bonus-point win saw them top their Champions Cup pool as they head into the Six Nations break. Yet it’s widely accepted the performances haven’t quite been at the level we’ve come to expect from Leo Cullen’s side over the years.
With big personalities in the shape of Johnny Sexton and Stuart Lancaster departing before Jacques Nienaber joined in November, it’s been a year of significant change.
Leinster were seriously impressive in winning away to La Rochelle back in December but since then they’ve performanced in fits and starts. They’ve played some excellent rugby at various points over the last few months but the performances have lacked consistency and cohesion.
Some of that is down to Nienaber’s arrival as his ideas were always going to take time to fully embed with the players, but there’s been other disruptions too – notably the ongoing injury problems at out-half, where Ross Byrne, Ciarán Frawley and Harry Byrne have all found themselves unable to string together a run of games at 10.
“We have had a fair few things going in this period,” said Leinster boss Cullen, speaking before the round of 16 details had been confirmed.
“We start the season and the World Cup is coming to an end, and it is just a straight run of games, four in the Champions Cup and nine in the league.
We have used a lot of players, trying to integrate a new coach, there has been lots going on. We are getting there. Winter rugby can he hard, a bit of a dogfight, that’s the reality of some of the conditions we play in.
“Round 1 against La Rochelle was a bit of a dogfight over there, Munster, then Ulster a game we lose in the RDS, bloody disappointing… Short turnaround for us, all those different factors. We are in a situation where we have qualified, finished top of the pool, and it gets us a home draw in the last 16, a positive and we start again post-Six Nations.
“We will have a little bit of a break and come back in. It’s hugely exciting. We have done a lot of good things considering all the different factors we had to deal with.”
Leinster’s next competitive game is a URC tie with Benetton on 17 February, followed by another home clash with the Bulls on 29 March before the Champions Cup resumes in April. Leinster will also take in two friendlies during the Six Nations window, playing Saracens in London on 23 February and Bath at The Rec on 15 March.
They head into the Six Nations break safe in the knowledge they are well placed to attack the next block of the season, and with a strong sense the best is yet to come.
“Exactly. Some of that is the conditions, training conditions can be a challenge to build that cohesion,” Cullen said.
“We will watch with great interest the Six Nations and will be working hard with the group we have in UCD. It’s a great window where you have young players coming into the team. You have some academy guys stepping in to take their opportunity.
“You get a couple of new guys coming into the team who haven’t featured before, or certainly haven’t featured a hell of a lot before. They will be surrounded by experienced guys.
“As coaches you look forward to that. It is a great privilege of the job to bring young guys through.”
Things haven’t run as smoothly as Cullen would have liked but as is so often the case with Leinster, the season will only really start when their Ireland stars return post-Six Nations. Despite the odd bump along the way, they’re still in pole position to challenge on both fronts when the club season resumes.
As our Derby friend said, it could be worse.
