THE CHAMPIONS CUP only really limped into life for the provinces over the last two weekends.
Munster made a winning start against Stade Francais before a deflating loss away to Castres put a dampener on their post-November progress. Ulster kept their frontliners in reserve as they shipped 61 points at Toulouse, and the gamble didn’t play off as a strengthened team went down 40-19 at home to Bordeaux in round two.
Leinster were the only Irish side to go two from two in the Champions Cup but even their home win over Clermont Auvergne left plenty to be desired. After overcoming a slow start to win in Bristol on the opening weekend, Leinster failed to kick on in the fashion they would have liked at Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Leinster’s attack struggled to properly trouble Clermont, with the hosts limited to just 15 points courtesy of two first-half tries and a second-half Sam Prendergast penalty. That blunt attack was only part of the problem, with Leinster’s misfiring lineout causing issues from start to finish. If it wasn’t for Leinter’s determined defensive effort and a rock-solid scrum, it could have unfolded into an even stickier night.
In the end Leo Cullen was relieved to see his team walk away with a win while acknowledging things aren’t quite where the coaching team would like them to be at this point in the season.
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Leinster lost se Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Some of that, he feels, is down to the logistics of it all. While Leinster had a significant chunk of their squad away on international duty with Ireland during the November window, the province’s recent opponents had more time with their players in the lead-in to the opening rounds of Champions Cup action.
“Particularly against the two teams that we played against Bristol and Clermont, they are not missing a huge amount of players really for November Tests,” said Cullen.
“We’re coming up against very cohesive teams whereas I feel that we are a long way off being a cohesive team. The lads involved in camp, we chopped and changed 47 players in the first six rounds (of the URC), there is a little bit of needs must there.
“The first couple of rounds we are not picking the guys who were in South Africa (for Ireland’s summer Tests). There are a couple of guys who didn’t travel to South Africa or missed the tail end of last season for different reasons. We were able to muddle our way through but it did feel like we were muddling our way through.
“At halftime today, we scored two tries, we got five points the previous week, we kick on and score two more tries and everyone is saying – ‘look, we are going great guns’.
The reality is that we are not quite where we want to be. How many teams can say that they are where they want to be right now? So you have to get through to a position where we are playing the big games at the end of the season, but we still have a good bit to go there.”
The URC now returns as the province host Connacht this weekend before heading to Thomond Park on 27 December – then it’s back into Europe for games against La Rochelle (12 January, away) and Bath (18 Jan, home). Cullen says Leinster will continue to rotate their players as they drive into the Christmas calendar.
“There has to be changes for next week. If you look at Connacht they are playing in the Challenge Cup, they have chopped and changed their team over the last couple of weeks. It looks like they are gearing up for a proper test against us next week, which will be a great challenge for our guys.
“Yes, we will have to make some alterations to our team but that is just managing players. We have all been through it. You can argue the pros and cons but we want our best players playing in Ireland but on the flip side of that it comes with some management. We accept it.
The Leinster attack struggled to trouble Clermont. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
“You could say, ‘should we not do this and this,’ but we have to be able to manage the players. The fact that there are not three games (before the Champions Cup returns) is a positive from the players point of view because there is one weekend where there is no game. But for the next two weeks we will have to chop and change the team.”
Cullen might even be tempted to shake things up more than he had originally planned. The Leinster boss was clearly frustrated with the performance against Clermont and admitted some players hadn’t delivered on the night.
“We’ve got a competitive group, some guys will be pissed off that they haven’t been picked over the last couple of weeks and they’ll get an opportunity against Connacht next week.
It’s up to them to deliver and show what they can do, beecause guys had an opportunity today and it was mixed. Listen, let’s face it, some lads didn’t go as well as we’d have hoped they’d go.
“Is that the way that we’re preparing them? We need to look at ourselves as coaches and go away and be very self-reflecting in terms of messaging and all the rest. Then, making sure the group that plays next week… It’ll be a mix of guys that played today and some guys that didn’t play today. So, you can figure that out!”
Cullen did accept that some of Leinster’s errors came from his players trying to make something happen as an increasingly fractured game wore on – a problem which also crept into some of Ireland’s performances in November. The coaches want their players to be ambitious on the ball but when it doesn’t work, it can look like overplaying when a more direct approach might have been available.
“Guys are trying hard, they really are. You want them to be brave, make an offload. Conditions, whatever has gone on before, they’re getting jittery and we’re not quite in a flow.
“We’re relatively early days, we got a win. It was an ugly enough win but we’ll have to take it and move on the next challenge which is Connacht here, and we’d take an ugly win against them if we get it.”
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'The reality is that we are not quite where we want to be'
THE CHAMPIONS CUP only really limped into life for the provinces over the last two weekends.
Munster made a winning start against Stade Francais before a deflating loss away to Castres put a dampener on their post-November progress. Ulster kept their frontliners in reserve as they shipped 61 points at Toulouse, and the gamble didn’t play off as a strengthened team went down 40-19 at home to Bordeaux in round two.
Leinster were the only Irish side to go two from two in the Champions Cup but even their home win over Clermont Auvergne left plenty to be desired. After overcoming a slow start to win in Bristol on the opening weekend, Leinster failed to kick on in the fashion they would have liked at Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Leinster’s attack struggled to properly trouble Clermont, with the hosts limited to just 15 points courtesy of two first-half tries and a second-half Sam Prendergast penalty. That blunt attack was only part of the problem, with Leinster’s misfiring lineout causing issues from start to finish. If it wasn’t for Leinter’s determined defensive effort and a rock-solid scrum, it could have unfolded into an even stickier night.
In the end Leo Cullen was relieved to see his team walk away with a win while acknowledging things aren’t quite where the coaching team would like them to be at this point in the season.
Some of that, he feels, is down to the logistics of it all. While Leinster had a significant chunk of their squad away on international duty with Ireland during the November window, the province’s recent opponents had more time with their players in the lead-in to the opening rounds of Champions Cup action.
“Particularly against the two teams that we played against Bristol and Clermont, they are not missing a huge amount of players really for November Tests,” said Cullen.
“We’re coming up against very cohesive teams whereas I feel that we are a long way off being a cohesive team. The lads involved in camp, we chopped and changed 47 players in the first six rounds (of the URC), there is a little bit of needs must there.
“The first couple of rounds we are not picking the guys who were in South Africa (for Ireland’s summer Tests). There are a couple of guys who didn’t travel to South Africa or missed the tail end of last season for different reasons. We were able to muddle our way through but it did feel like we were muddling our way through.
“At halftime today, we scored two tries, we got five points the previous week, we kick on and score two more tries and everyone is saying – ‘look, we are going great guns’.
The URC now returns as the province host Connacht this weekend before heading to Thomond Park on 27 December – then it’s back into Europe for games against La Rochelle (12 January, away) and Bath (18 Jan, home). Cullen says Leinster will continue to rotate their players as they drive into the Christmas calendar.
“There has to be changes for next week. If you look at Connacht they are playing in the Challenge Cup, they have chopped and changed their team over the last couple of weeks. It looks like they are gearing up for a proper test against us next week, which will be a great challenge for our guys.
“Yes, we will have to make some alterations to our team but that is just managing players. We have all been through it. You can argue the pros and cons but we want our best players playing in Ireland but on the flip side of that it comes with some management. We accept it.
“You could say, ‘should we not do this and this,’ but we have to be able to manage the players. The fact that there are not three games (before the Champions Cup returns) is a positive from the players point of view because there is one weekend where there is no game. But for the next two weeks we will have to chop and change the team.”
Cullen might even be tempted to shake things up more than he had originally planned. The Leinster boss was clearly frustrated with the performance against Clermont and admitted some players hadn’t delivered on the night.
“We’ve got a competitive group, some guys will be pissed off that they haven’t been picked over the last couple of weeks and they’ll get an opportunity against Connacht next week.
“Is that the way that we’re preparing them? We need to look at ourselves as coaches and go away and be very self-reflecting in terms of messaging and all the rest. Then, making sure the group that plays next week… It’ll be a mix of guys that played today and some guys that didn’t play today. So, you can figure that out!”
Cullen did accept that some of Leinster’s errors came from his players trying to make something happen as an increasingly fractured game wore on – a problem which also crept into some of Ireland’s performances in November. The coaches want their players to be ambitious on the ball but when it doesn’t work, it can look like overplaying when a more direct approach might have been available.
“Guys are trying hard, they really are. You want them to be brave, make an offload. Conditions, whatever has gone on before, they’re getting jittery and we’re not quite in a flow.
“We’re relatively early days, we got a win. It was an ugly enough win but we’ll have to take it and move on the next challenge which is Connacht here, and we’d take an ugly win against them if we get it.”
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