WHEN IT COMES to knockout rugby, home advantage matters. Of the eight Champions Cup round of 16 games played over the weekend, only one resulted in an away win.
Sale Sharks’ reward for winning at Harlequins on Saturday night is another away day, taking on Leinster in Dublin this Saturday in the quarter-finals (KO 5.30pm). It’s a tall ask for the Sharks, but they’ll make the journey with nothing to lose. They sit seventh in the PREM table, a distance off the playoffs, so can afford to throw everything at the Champions Cup now.
There’s a freedom that comes with being the underdog. Edinburgh showed some of that in how they targeted intercepts early and often against Leinster on Sunday. They had three intercept tries to their name by half time, along with a fine first-phase score off a scrum, and were leading Leinster early in the second half. Surely, Sale will come with a similar ambition to make it a nervy evening for their hosts, who only have a six-day turnaround to iron out the issues from Sunday’s shaky showing.
But they can’t rely on receiving as many gifts from a Leinster team who played too key a role in keeping Edinburgh in the game. That sloppy showing has to be a once-off. Such carelessness will surely be punished to a greater extent as the Champions Cup heats up.
“We scored some great team tries I think out there, so that’s pleasing,” said Leinster boss Leo Cullen.
Edinburgh's Malelili Satala and Hugo Keenan of Leinster. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
“The biggest (area to improve) is probably respecting possession, I think that’s probably the biggest thing. Because another day you’re going to get more punished than we were today. We got punished in terms of the scoreboard, but we didn’t get punished in terms of the end result. I haven’t quite seen anything like that before today.”
Veteran out-half George Ford was key to Sale’s 26-17 win at the Stoop, where Sharks led 16-0 at half-time before holding off a Quins’ fightback in the second period. Despite strong winds making it a tough night for kickers, Ford kicked four penalties and two conversions, with hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie supplying both Sale tries from lineout mauls.
“They’ve top end performers as well, guys who have been around the block so they know what they’re doing and yeah, they’ll pose a proper physical test for us in terms of what they lean into and in terms if their identity, which is hard-working, north of England.
“It’s about making sure our guys get to understand pretty quickly what that picture is going to look like.
George Ford was central to Sale's win at the Stoop. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
“We can’t feed them life in the game so we need to make sure we’re piling on as much pressure as we can to them at every opportunity. That’s the challenge for us with a short turnaround. We’ll assess where everyone is and make a new plan tomorrow (Monday) and get back to work on Tuesday.”
Despite the chaotic manner of Leinster’s win, flanker Josh van der Flier said the players never felt any sense of panic creeping into their game.
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“One of the things I found quite pleasing today was obviously it was not ideal the amount of points we conceded, but how calm it was out there,” Van der Flier said.
“It was brilliant. Tommy (O’Brien) spoke at half time. Caelan (Doris) was really good throughout in the huddles. There was never a sense of panic when it probably seemed when we had the disallowed try and they had another breakaway try and got a three point lead. There was never any panic out there.
“I’ve been involved in games before when you can feel maybe a small bit of panic but it was unbelievably calm. That will come in knockout rugby when you get into those situations where they might get a breakaway try or you feel like you’re playing well, which I felt out there. I think all the lads felt they played really well and tried really hard. There was good intent out there and then they managed to get a few breakaway tries, took their chances well, but I think overall it was pretty positive.
“I didn’t think there was a huge amount out there that we couldn’t fix ourselves,” he added.
“To score as many points as we did was good. It was a funny game, we didn’t do a huge amount of defending but I definitely thought there were a lot of positives. I’m sure when we go through the review there will be plenty of things that we could have done better but definitely I’ll be thinking positively anyway.”
Indeed, while some supporters might fret about the issues in Leinster’s game at this point of this season, there’s every possibility that winning like this holds more long-term value than steamrolling opponents in desperately one-sided knockout games, as they did in holding both Harlequins and Glasgow scoreless in last season’s round of 16 and quarter-finals.
“In knockout rugby we’ve been there every year at some stage, or throughout the season you have times when things just aren’t going your way,” Van der Flier said.
Edinburgh's Liam McConnell tackles Josh van der Flier. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
“You feel like you’re doing everything right and you’re certainly preparing as well as you can, and performing as well as you can and things just aren’t going your way. So, I think you can a lot of confidence from it. We’ve had a few like that earlier in the season where we’ve had close games and managed to get a win out of them.
“I think you certainly build a bit of momentum that way and take a bit of confidence from the fact that if we get into a bad position, which will probably happen at some stage, then we’ll be the better for it.”
Andrew Porter emerged as a doubt for the weekend having come off with a shoulder/pec injury, but there was better news on James Ryan and Garry Ringrose. Leinster will provide a full squad update later today.
“James got through some training there on Friday, which is positive,” Cullen said.
“He was in the coaching box with us there and Garry is pretty close as well. A few other guys are getting closer, which is pleasing.”
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Leinster need to shake loose play out of their system as Champions Cup heats up
WHEN IT COMES to knockout rugby, home advantage matters. Of the eight Champions Cup round of 16 games played over the weekend, only one resulted in an away win.
Sale Sharks’ reward for winning at Harlequins on Saturday night is another away day, taking on Leinster in Dublin this Saturday in the quarter-finals (KO 5.30pm). It’s a tall ask for the Sharks, but they’ll make the journey with nothing to lose. They sit seventh in the PREM table, a distance off the playoffs, so can afford to throw everything at the Champions Cup now.
There’s a freedom that comes with being the underdog. Edinburgh showed some of that in how they targeted intercepts early and often against Leinster on Sunday. They had three intercept tries to their name by half time, along with a fine first-phase score off a scrum, and were leading Leinster early in the second half. Surely, Sale will come with a similar ambition to make it a nervy evening for their hosts, who only have a six-day turnaround to iron out the issues from Sunday’s shaky showing.
But they can’t rely on receiving as many gifts from a Leinster team who played too key a role in keeping Edinburgh in the game. That sloppy showing has to be a once-off. Such carelessness will surely be punished to a greater extent as the Champions Cup heats up.
“We scored some great team tries I think out there, so that’s pleasing,” said Leinster boss Leo Cullen.
“The biggest (area to improve) is probably respecting possession, I think that’s probably the biggest thing. Because another day you’re going to get more punished than we were today. We got punished in terms of the scoreboard, but we didn’t get punished in terms of the end result. I haven’t quite seen anything like that before today.”
Veteran out-half George Ford was key to Sale’s 26-17 win at the Stoop, where Sharks led 16-0 at half-time before holding off a Quins’ fightback in the second period. Despite strong winds making it a tough night for kickers, Ford kicked four penalties and two conversions, with hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie supplying both Sale tries from lineout mauls.
“They’ve top end performers as well, guys who have been around the block so they know what they’re doing and yeah, they’ll pose a proper physical test for us in terms of what they lean into and in terms if their identity, which is hard-working, north of England.
“It’s about making sure our guys get to understand pretty quickly what that picture is going to look like.
“We can’t feed them life in the game so we need to make sure we’re piling on as much pressure as we can to them at every opportunity. That’s the challenge for us with a short turnaround. We’ll assess where everyone is and make a new plan tomorrow (Monday) and get back to work on Tuesday.”
Despite the chaotic manner of Leinster’s win, flanker Josh van der Flier said the players never felt any sense of panic creeping into their game.
“One of the things I found quite pleasing today was obviously it was not ideal the amount of points we conceded, but how calm it was out there,” Van der Flier said.
“It was brilliant. Tommy (O’Brien) spoke at half time. Caelan (Doris) was really good throughout in the huddles. There was never a sense of panic when it probably seemed when we had the disallowed try and they had another breakaway try and got a three point lead. There was never any panic out there.
“I’ve been involved in games before when you can feel maybe a small bit of panic but it was unbelievably calm. That will come in knockout rugby when you get into those situations where they might get a breakaway try or you feel like you’re playing well, which I felt out there. I think all the lads felt they played really well and tried really hard. There was good intent out there and then they managed to get a few breakaway tries, took their chances well, but I think overall it was pretty positive.
“I didn’t think there was a huge amount out there that we couldn’t fix ourselves,” he added.
“To score as many points as we did was good. It was a funny game, we didn’t do a huge amount of defending but I definitely thought there were a lot of positives. I’m sure when we go through the review there will be plenty of things that we could have done better but definitely I’ll be thinking positively anyway.”
Indeed, while some supporters might fret about the issues in Leinster’s game at this point of this season, there’s every possibility that winning like this holds more long-term value than steamrolling opponents in desperately one-sided knockout games, as they did in holding both Harlequins and Glasgow scoreless in last season’s round of 16 and quarter-finals.
“In knockout rugby we’ve been there every year at some stage, or throughout the season you have times when things just aren’t going your way,” Van der Flier said.
“You feel like you’re doing everything right and you’re certainly preparing as well as you can, and performing as well as you can and things just aren’t going your way. So, I think you can a lot of confidence from it. We’ve had a few like that earlier in the season where we’ve had close games and managed to get a win out of them.
“I think you certainly build a bit of momentum that way and take a bit of confidence from the fact that if we get into a bad position, which will probably happen at some stage, then we’ll be the better for it.”
Andrew Porter emerged as a doubt for the weekend having come off with a shoulder/pec injury, but there was better news on James Ryan and Garry Ringrose. Leinster will provide a full squad update later today.
“James got through some training there on Friday, which is positive,” Cullen said.
“He was in the coaching box with us there and Garry is pretty close as well. A few other guys are getting closer, which is pleasing.”
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Champions Cup Josh Van der Flier Leinster Leo Cullen no room for error Rugby Sale Sharks