Ryan Bailey reports from the RDS
MUCH LIKE THE vast majority inside this ground, all of whom were left on the edge of their seat right up until the final kick of a gripping contest, Leo Cullen breathed a huge sigh of relief when all was said and done.
Leinster are up and running in Europe, coming away from this stern and physically demanding test with all five points but, boy, did they have to dig deep to see out a win which kick-starts their Pool 3 campaign.
Shorn of the experience and presence of Johnny Sexton, Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip and Scott Fardy, Leinster, to a man, stood up and rose to the occasion to withstand a late Montpellier onslaught inspired by their monstrous 130kg wing Nemani Nadolo.
The Fijian scored two tries to keep the French visitors in the contest, but Leinster, through Joey Carbery, Josh van der Flier, Robbie Henshaw and Barry Daly, were more than deserving winners in front of a thunderous RDS crowd.
“I feel very relieved. Exhausted. It was pretty stressful watching at times, but we’re reasonably pleased with the overall outcome,” Cullen said afterwards.
“It wasn’t pretty at times, but we knew it was going to be a huge challenge. For a lot of young guys to step in today. I thought they showed a lot of bravery, courage against some very big, physical individuals. They have a lot of power and quality throughout their team. We got a win and we can move on now.”
The Leinster head coach praised his side’s tireless defensive efforts and the way some of his younger players showed remarkable bravery in the face of repeated charges from Nadolo.
He continued: “Nadolo is close to undefendable when he gets a head of steam off, he’s just that big and powerful. Guys were putting themselves in the way, but still, he has a very wearing effect. Montpellier, I thought they were very tight and limited in what they were trying to do in the first half, but I think they do that to narrow us up as well. Just to try and wear us down, make us tackle them.
“Then they’ll try and move the ball a little bit more in the second half, and they’re dangerous. Not only have they really big forwards that wear you down, they’ve also got big backs that can get their hands free in contact, and constantly taking two and three defenders for us.
“It was wearing for our guys, and it took a big, physical toll. You could see guys were absolutely exhausted by the end of it but over the course of it, I thought one of the big things is the bravery I think the guys showed.
“They fought hard for each other, for their team-mates, and that’s probably the most pleasing thing. Unbelievable crowd, the noise. Great atmosphere there today as well. We talk a lot about the team needing support. When you think of the threats, and the teams that we come up against.
“One of the things that makes the Irish provinces so special is the support that they get, and I think that sense of really everyone putting it all on the line there today was pleasing.”
Henshaw, outstanding in both attack and defence, thrived in the 13 jersey while Carbery again oozed class throughout as he was heavily involved in pretty much everything good about Leinster’s largely clinical attack. Ross Byrne and Barry Daly also produced big performances.
The forwards fronted up particularly well, with van der Flier and Conan getting through trojan work in the backrow while James Ryan, drafted in as a late replacement for Fardy, enjoyed a European debut to remember. The whole pack put in big shifts.
“I thought he was very strong in contact James, he’s a good athlete. Good engine. It’s tough trying to take down a lot of those big guys, but I thought he did well. Scott [Fardy] has a tonne of experience, so it’s hard to replace that, but James has got his first taste of European rugby, which is great to get through.
“I thought he acquitted himself really, really well. He was in early this morning, early kick-off today, but he was in at 9am going through, and making sure he was clear in his role, and I thought he did very, very well.”
On the injury front, Cullen confirmed Isa Nacewa hobbled off in the first half after getting his ankle jammed in a ruck while Leinster are ‘optimistic’ Sexton and O’Brien will come back into the fold for next week’s trip to Glasgow.
“We’ll see how they are,” Cullen said of the Lions duo. “We’ll get them checked over the weekend. Come in Monday, Tuesday and see how they go. Put a plan in place based off what we have seen of Glasgow so far, and what we see tonight again in their game against Exeter. Another great challenge. Glasgow riding high off the back of six wins.
“It’s not going to get any easier. Big game after big game at the moment, and it’s a great challenge. The squad is going to be tested, we made some calls early last week on guys, and hopefully some of those guys will come back into the mix.”
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Full confidence in the team to perform very well for the rest of the tournament!
@Jasper Conroy: Really???
2007 comparisons are lazy. We hammered Scotland in our first match. People seem to have completely forgotten that.
11 points from a possible 15 after 3 games. Not a bad return at all. Time to get behind the team and stop the moaning. #COYBIG
Some load of negative tosspots in the media. Same goons who downplayed the grand slams, dismissed wins over NZ/SA and cheered for Racing over Leinster are now delighted. It’s like they are in competition to be the new Tom Humphries.
The social media campaigns from the sponsors are grating, but they always are no matter the sport or team.
It never ceases to amaze me how the commentators/pundits swing, we beat a poor Scotland and we are set for a quater final against SA no account taken of Japan who should be tier one nation and who accounted for SA in 2015, who are also hosting. We then put 35 points on Russia get the bonus point and Eddie is not satisfied, the same Eddie who presided over the debacle of 2007 in FRANCE. Give this squad a break and get behind then nothing is to be gained from negativity. Bestie and the Boys Abú
Just 22 points and one try conceded in 3 games is a very healthy stat .
@Limón Madrugada:
“Just 22 points and one try conceded in 3 games”
And we scored 11 tries to 1 conceded :: if we stated that before the WC we would have been happy :: but in that, there was 1 loss !!!!!!
Yeah the negativity is getting to me also. Can we do a bit of analysis on the positives? Also aside from Samoa game we probably won’t go into another game as favourites no matter how far we go in the tournament and that is just fine by me. That’s where the Irish pysche is more comfortable and more dangerous. I hope we play well against Samoa and get the result needed to put pressure on Japan and then we put the fear of God into our opponents in the quarters!
@Brian O’Driscoll: have to agree, finally watched the Russia game. There was a lot of good variation in attack which ended with a poor handling error or a Russian infringement (often not penalised – for Henderson’s knock on over the line, it was actually good Russian D but the 7 knocked on in the preceding ruck). The evidence is there that Ireland are about to kick on. Everyone would take a loss in the group if it meant peaking at QF stage and you can see Ireland are starting to ramp it up.
Hugh Cahill’s and Donal Lenihan’s rugby commentary is also very poor and schizophrenic. The keyboard warriors and Ed O Sullivan’s of this world will be the biggest fans when we put Samoa to the sword by at least 30 points. COYBIG
@Brian O’Driscoll:
@Brian O’Driscoll: have to agree. I finally watched the Russia game and the evidence is there that they are beginning to vary their attacking play which often ended with an error or Russian infringement. They played good ball. Russia was not the game to correct the Japan loss. What good would it be to go out and put 70 on Russia. It’s better they tried to evolve the game. No one wants 4 pool wins if it means a QF loss. I can see Ireland ramping up their game plan ahead of a QF showdown and surprised others who are professionals in the game don’t see it.
People like Ed O Sullivan and the keyboard warriors who think the Russian game was the game to correct the woes of the Japan loss are fools. The time to do it is at the QF.
We’ll put 30 on Samoa.
I’m sick to the back teeth of all the negativity. The final straw for me was Sean Farrell on the42′s rugby podcast yesterday moaning that Ireland’s first try against Russia was an old Joe Schmidt strike move. Some people will always find something negative to say.
Completely down to the players themselves, their mind set, body language, which to date hasn’t been great.
They’ve done it before so they can up it again.
Ah Martin you should know more than anyone that negativity does nothing for any teak.
Team that is