“PHYSICALITY IS A big word in rugby, isn’t it?”
So says Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac when he’s asked what lessons the Scarlets learned from their 38-16 defeat to Leinster in the Champions Cup semi-finals five weeks ago.
The Welsh region are in little doubt about what went wrong back in April and ahead of today’s Guinness Pro14 final [KO 6pm, TG4/Sky Sports], in which the Scarlets are defending their title, physicality has been the clear focus.
“They got the better of us on that particular day,” says Pivac. “They were superb in the aspects of the body height and the levels of aggression they brought.
“The channels they ran down very close, they hit the gainline and got very quick ball. There was no separation from their ball-carriers and support players and it was very hard to get the ball off them. They’d done their homework and I thought played very well.”
Since that chastening day in Dublin, the Scarlets have hammered the Cheetahs and shown their class in last weekend’s Pro14 semi-final win against Glasgow.
That victory at Scotstoun looked far more like the Scarlets that swept to the Pro12 trophy last year, when they blasted past Leinster in the semi-final along the way.
“We played into their hands if you wind back the clock to that semi-final last year,” says Leinster boss Leo Cullen. “Watching that Glasgow semi-final I thought, ‘Whoa, that looks like something that happened to us in the past!’
“It was a mirror image almost; the first three quick tries and 21 points. Trying to chase the game against that kind of defence is tough, and how do you try and go about doing that? It was a stark reminder.”
Cullen probably welcomed such a sharp performance from Scarlets last weekend as he and Stuart Lancaster looked to ensure clarity of thought in the Leinster camp with the opportunity for a historic Pro14/Champions Cup double on the line today.
Being able to name captain Isa Nacewa – who insists this game is not about him as he gets set to retire – playmaker Johnny Sexton and chief destroyer Dan Leavy in his starting XV after injury concerns earlier in the week was a relief for Cullen.
Indeed, the condition of his squad ahead of this final is rather remarkable.
Some players, Nacewa included, are carrying heavy end-of-season knocks but apart from missing Sean O’Brien, Fergus McFadden, Cathal Marsh and Josh van der Flier to impact-related injuries, but Cullen had an extremely strong hand to choose from.
Cullen and captain Nacewa both paid credit to the backroom team, led by head of athletic performance, Charlie Higgins, and head physiotherapist, Garreth Farrell, for their part in this superb season.
“What Charlie and Garreth do behind the scenes is phenomenal,” says Nacewa, “the way they manage us old heads and then the young guys as well. As an addition to this club, the impact of Charlie Higgins has been immediate.”
Their good management has allowed Leinster to use 55 players in this competition and, as ever, the men on the pitch will have all of the others in mind as they seek a second trophy.
While they dismantled Scarlets last time out, there will be little complacency from Leinster.
The Welsh side have lost number eight John Barclay to injury, but the return of Leigh Halfpenny is a boost, Pivac pointing out that the fullback has “averaged around 18 points a game this season.”
Perhaps as importantly, the in-form Rhys Patchell is at out-half this time around, where Pivac hopes he can provide good quality possession for an exciting backline that has been improved by the recent return from injury of Kiwi wing Johnny McNicholl, who lines up opposite Leinster’s excitement machine, James Lowe.
“Johnny brings a lot on attack,” says Pivac. “He’s got good footwork and he’s got a good fend, which you saw against Glasgow last week, and he’s full of energy.
“He can run all day long, so he’s going to bring a lot to our attack, hopefully, but again it starts where we’ve got to get ball, get front-foot ball and give these guys an opportunity.”
The absence of Barclay has seen Tadhg Beirne shift into the number eight shirt for what will be his final appearance for the Scarlets before heading to Australia with Ireland and then joining Munster next season.
Pivac has picked Steve Cummins and Lewis Rawlins as his locks, with Cullen suggesting that might be about “beefing up their second row a bit more as well, a slightly heavier pack potentially.” The Scarlets insist that isn’t the case.
“John Barclay’s ruptured Achilles probably forced that call; he would have played otherwise,” says Pivac.
“Tadhg has played there before for us against Toulon and in the Pro14. He is versatile, he has played six and in the second row for us.
“There is not a lot of change for us in the two positions, not much in the lineout changes for us. It was an easy transition for him really.”
Beirne’s turnover threat, alongside that of openside James Davies, will be a key focus for Leinster again as they look to limit the Scarlets’ opportunities to strike on the counter-attack.
Leinster’s own team is littered with Grand Slam-winning quality, with Rob Kearney returning to provide solidity at fullback in a back three completed by Lowe and Jordan Larmour.
Centres Garry Ringrose and Nacewa are all class, while Sexton and Luke McGrath should provide confident direction of their play.
The pack was difficult to pick for Cullen, but the grunt Leinster’s forwards have given all season could be the key difference again.
The Scarlets want to play their scintillating attacking style this time around, but if they don’t front up they know it will be another miserable day at the Aviva.
“Hopefully, we can spread the ball a little bit more than last time,” says captain Ken Owens. “Obviously, we got taken aback by the physicality that day, they won that battle.
“When we did get the ball we were a little rabbit-in-the-headlights, forcing it and trying to score off passes and offloads that weren’t on.
“I think it’s going to be about the battle of the gainline and we have to get some front-foot ball for our backs to try and get into the wide channels and run at Leinster because we didn’t provide that last time.”
Leinster:
15. Rob Kearney
14. Jordan Larmour
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Isa Nacewa (captain)
11. James Lowe
10. Johnny Sexton
9. Luke McGrath
1. Cian Healy
2. Sean Cronin
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Devin Toner
5. James Ryan
6. Rhys Ruddock
7. Dan Leavy
8. Jack Conan
Replacements:
16. James Tracy
17. Jack McGrath
18. Andrew Porter
19. Scott Fardy
20. Jordi Murphy
21. Nick McCarthy
22. Joey Carbery
23. Rory O’Loughlin
Scarlets:
15. Leigh Halfpenny
14. Johnny McNicholl
13. Scott Williams
12. Hadleigh Parkes
11. Steff Evans
10. Rhys Patchell
9. Gareth Davies
1. Rob Evans
2. Ken Owens (captain)
3. Samson Lee
4. Lewis Rawlins
5. Steve Cummins
6. Aaron Shingler
7. James Davies
8. Tadhg Beirne
Replacements:
16. Ryan Elias
17. Wyn Jones
18. Werner Kruger
19. David Bulbring
20. Will Boyde
21. Jonathan Evans
22. Dan Jones
23. Tom Prydie
Referee: Stuart Berry [SARU].
- This article was updated at 8.39am to correct ‘Robbie Henshaw’ to ‘Nacewa’.
Wow this is shocking. :( He played wonderful football at Celtic…just heard the club’s statement expressing shock and support to him and his family. Hope he makes a full recovery.
As a Villa man i am totally numbed. I am a. huge fan of Stan, just hope he can overcome this.
Who gives a crap about football when the likes of this happens. I hope He gets well soon.
I’m properly gutted to hear this news. We’ve had a few very rocky seasons at Villa recently and Stan has been the heart and soul of the squad through them. Really hope he beats this.
best wishes to himself and his family.. shocking news.. get well soon .
What can one say 32 and then to hear this.I wish him all the best with his treatment.
Get well soon Stan!! Really hope we see him back in a Villa shirt!!
Aston Villa will miss him, get well soon Petrov.
Poor fella , good luck to him
Poor guy, tough going for someone so young.
Gerson therapy has no clinical benefit and had shown to be harmful to patients. U really think a diet will cure cancer…. Get real. They wont even conduct research on this diet because it would be unethical. I have no problem with patients trying alternative therapy in conjunction with the best medical therapy available.
What would be unethical about investigating a cure for cancer? Look up Gerson Therapy: Results of 50 Cases you can download it for free. The X-rays/ct scans were taken from patients who were sent home to die after chemo/radiation and you can see the tumour shrinking. The reason they can say it has no proven benefit is because the scientific method only tests for one variable at a time but the Gerson therapy uses hundreds of variables. I’m guessing you didn’t follow my link or haven’t actually looked up the Gerson therapy, you just saw alternative therapy and dismissed it immediately. That’s what conventional ‘scientists’ do, they dismiss it because they can’t see why it works. It’s complicated biochemistry (cancer and the cure) so because they don’t understand it they throw all the chemo and radiation that they can at the tumour but they ignore the fact that cancer is a disorder not a virus. But it doesn’t matter how it works because the evidence speaks for itself. There’s a huge surge now in the US of medical doctors switching over to nutrition. Prescribing drugs is more profitable than prescribing juices so which do you think is going to be supported? Doctors have no interest in making you better because they make their money off of sick people. They say more people live off cancer than die from it.
great footballer…giant of a player for Celtic in his day. God’s speed and be well….
No I work in cancer care, administer treatments and watch people recover. I don’t look for guidance on evidenced based care from YouTube or google by the way. I agree that the medical profession needs to embrace patient choice but refusing medical care is non sensical. Maybe muamba should have received these such therapies rather than receiving world class care from the chest hospital!!?? I think petrov has a great chance of making a full recovery! Best of luck to him
Frightening. Get well soon.
Good luck, Stiliyan. As has been shown with Muamba,when it comes to the really important things, team colours don’t matter a damn. It’s been fantastic to see footie fans all over the world show support for Fabrice’s recovery. I hope Stiliyan gets that same support and gets back on the pitch soon.
If he was a member of my family i would tell him to skip the ‘treatment’ and go straight on the Gerson therapy. Hopefully he finds out about it in time before he goes for chemo/radiation which’ll only hasten his departure. What a screwed up world we live in when a proven cure is kept from the public sphere by greedy ‘medical. associations who dismiss them as quakery.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoUl7F7dWdE&feature=watch-now-button&wide=1
You could also ask Santa to bring you a cure for Christmas. It’s about as realistic as eating fruit, liver and having coffee enemas.
I prefer to drink my coffee, rather than take it up the bum, thanks all the same.
The treatment has to fit the ailment- the therapy is for chronic disease not cardic arrest. Its hard to believe you work in the healthcare profession with a statement like that. And I research peer reviewed journals (obviously not the British Medical Asoc. and the likes). Medical journals are made available online whats the problem with reading them there? but if you refuse to to even consider the evidence there’s nothing more I can say. I’ll continue to expose the truth whenever I can. I don’t see conspracy in everything and I don’t watch Ancient Aliens, but it’s just plain naive to think we’re being told the truth where there’s profit to be made. I hope too that he will make a full recovery and wish him the best of luck whatever route he chooses.