Murray Kinsella reports from Bilbao
THOUGH THE FINISHING touch was a rather ugly and dour affair, this must surely go down as Leinster’s most impressive European campaign of them all.
Two wins over the best team in this season’s Premiership. Two wins over the winners of Conference B of the Pro14. Two wins over the best team in this season’s Top 14.
A win against the previous back-to-back champions. A win against the Pro12 holders. And, finally, a hard-fought victory over the second best team in France this season.
To dispatch Glasgow, Montpellier, Exeter, Saracens, the Scarlets and now Racing should see this European campaign remembered as fondly as any other of Leinster’s successes, even if the final will prove to be forgettable.
“I’ll keep a romantic view of it and not watch it over probably,” admitted Cian Healy afterwards, but that shouldn’t take away from the manner in which Leinster eked out their 15-12 win against an excellent Racing side.
It’s a shame that the lack of tries mean there won’t be a single, clear memory from this game to cling onto as the years pass by.
Isa Nacewa’s winning penalty was straightforward but will be happily remembered by many. Garry Ringrose’s break was vital, as was Jack Conan’s tackling of Teddy Thomas into touch. There are lots of little bits in it, but not a big one that stands out above all.
Nonetheless, the joy of the victory and the fourth European star on Leinster’s jersey will mean the manner in which they were achieved will fade into insignificance.
“I was overjoyed, really overjoyed,” said head coach Leo Cullen of watching Remi Tales’ last-gasp drop-goal attempt sailing wide to confirm Leinster’s win. “I was delighted for the players, a sense of relief.
“It was a pretty incredible feeling. It might not seem that way when you talk to me now but at that moment… I have never experienced anything quite like it, to be honest.
“When you are a player it is very different because you are in the mix, you are doing things.
“From a coaching point of view, it is a bit more mentally challenging, so I’m just delighted for all the people who are involved. We see them a very day and we thanked a lot of people at the start of the week because I think they each played a part.
“But, ultimately, our fate is decided by the 15 guys on the pitch at any given time and those guys, credit to them, they found a way. It wasn’t necessarily the way we would have liked to have played but they found a way to win the game.
“It was winning pretty ugly but maybe that’s what made it a little bit more sweet in many ways.”
This fourth title draws Leinster level with the previous doyens of European rugby, Toulouse.
While Leinster have now bridged a six-year gap between 2012 and this year’s success, the French club haven’t won the Champions/Heineken Cup since 2010 and haven’t even looked like contenders for years now.
“It seemed like Toulouse were that club that were going to kick on,” said Cullen. “You have to keep chipping away, keep trying to get better. I suppose there’s a lesson in that too; don’t stop at four.
“You need to keep evolving all the time and keep getting better. Toulouse are a good lesson for us because if you sit still for too long, people will pass you by. We’ve had to wait so long to get to this stage again.
“Hopefully, it won’t be another six years.”
There is plenty of reason to believe it won’t be that long a wait for title number five.
Cullen’s players are certainly of the belief that their squad has the youth and ability to drive onto more European glory sooner rather than later.
“You have to have a dream and a vision and the plan is to put a lot of stars on the shirt,” said 30-year-old Healy. “Not four, not five – I want to see Leinster grow and be dominant in Europe for years.
“The crop that is coming through and long after I’m gone, they’ll be holding that and hopefully doing that.”
Reflecting on Leinster’s journey to this point, it’s impossible to overlook Cullen making a ballsy call to hand full European debuts to Luke McGrath, Garry Ringrose, James Tracy, Josh van der Flier, Peter Dooley and Ross Molony against Bath in January 2016.
Only three of those players featured in Saturday’s final win over Racing, but it was a pointer around how Cullen was willing to back the next wave of talent.
“That was a brilliant day,” recalled McGrath. “There were six of us getting our first starts. That had a lot to do with it, getting that experience.
“We went away to Wasps the next week and got a serious lesson learned but Isa and Johnny spoke. They have so much experience, they’ve won three titles before this one.
“The younger lads would listen to Johnny and Isa speak all week. They’ve done it before and we follow.”
The leadership of Sexton and Nacewa has been pivotal, of course, and the loss of the 35-year-old will be keenly felt within the playing group next season.
“How we go without Isa is going to be a big challenge,” said Cullen. “He is such a key figure, someone is going to have to step up now because he is an amazing individual.
“I couldn’t put into words how special he is in terms of his influence on the group, on the club. That’s something we need to figure out.”
Sexton and others like Healy and Sean O’Brien will need to deliver even more leadership in Nacewa’s absence, but the younger generation feel they are ready to step up themselves.
“This is only the beginning, to be honest with you,” said back row Conan, who is still only 25.
“There are so many lads and even though it’s unfortunate that the likes of Jordi Murphy are leaving, we have Dan Leavy, James Ryan and all guys like that of a similar age and we have all played together for a few years already
“This is only the start and it’s such an exciting prospect to see what these lads can do in the coming years.”
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Really going to miss Isa, always gave 110% and was such a lovely guy, going to be big shoes to fill.
@Sam Harms: Always enjoyed watching him during those Magners League/Pro 12 games during the international break. Nacewa would regularly find himseld at 15 with 2 young wingers either side of him. He’d guide them though the game, defensively. Where to stand, how far from the centre, when to push in, when to push up etc That’s why I was really hoping he’d stay around and do some coaching. He looks like a coach already.
Leo didn’t exactly give a vote of confidence to Carbery on Saturday, Sexton was goosed, couldn’t kick and could barely run, Nacewa had taken over kicking duties and yet he still kept him on the bench. A move away is badly needed for him. I wouldn’t expect Sexton to be fit for this weekend so it’ll be telling to see who Cullen goes for.
On another note I really enjoyed the game on Saturday. Real tough game and Leinster ground out the result. I was delighted for them.
@Jim Demps: there was no way anyone was coming on to replace Sexton, unless he literally couldnt walk, when it was that close
@Sam Harms: yeh good point Sam,I’m sure he kept him on for a potential drop goal! he was limping and still made the one against France.
@Sam Harms: yeah you’re prob right but he should have come off. He was obviously struggling. It worked out though thankfully.
@Sam Harms: without getting too tribal and with my Irish hat on, Carbery can’t afford to have another season like he has just had if he has any aspirations on playing in the ten jersey for Ireland. I take your point on learning from Sexton but he also needs game time at club level, be it with Ulster or munster.
@Jim Demps: look at it this way, would Munster take Murray off in that situation unless they 100% had to?
@Jim Demps: Or Leinster.
@Sam Harms: Ireland wouldn’t take off Murray either. He’s absolutely vital, like Sexton.
@Sam Harms: I’m not criticizing the decision. I’m saying that Carbery needs to get game time in meaningful games, at ten , before the World Cup.
@Jim Demps: which he can, at Leinster. Munster have 3 flyhalfs already so if he does have to go anywhere it should be Ulster.
@Sam Harms: I get your point of view but neither Duncan Williams or James hart aren’t the back up 9 in the Irish squad so it’s not like for like –
If carbery is back up ten for his country he needs minutes or to be trusted as deputy for the club when the first choice is struggling , although I take no part in the debate as it’s a tricky situation , the Murrays value to Munster comparison just doesnt work
@Sam Harms: I think it’s all been decided anyway Sam. Once the season is over we will find out what the story with Carbery is. If I had to bet I’d say a season long loan to Ulster. If I had to decide myself I’d say a permanent switch to munster with Keatley going to Ulster.
While the game wasn’t the prettiest, it was an important win for Leinster in the grand scheme of things.
Something that popped into my head after the game was the 2011 World Cup final that New Zealand won 8-7 against France. New Zealand were obviously a quality team but hadn’t won in so long, much like Leinster. Much like Leinster, there was an argument for the French team outperforming their counterparts despite the odds.
For sure, this game was not a classic for the purists but in the grand scheme of things with an eye to future finals, I think Leinster will be happy to get the pressure of winning it again off their backs and play better as a result in the future.
@EK: totally agree. It should also be boted that while the highlights reel of their campaign won’t feature much more from Saturday’s match than the relief of a missed drop goal, it will still be a pretty glorious highlights reel featuring great attacking play against exclusively top class teams. The final itself was ground out, but it was raining and there were two teams with incredible defensive systems and a pernickety ref. We don’t have to worry about the quality of rugby Leinster are able to play.
@Conor Paddington: that’s very true Conor the official highlights vid is a joke , just the place kicks , not even how they happened . Nothing about possible yellows etc . I was at the game and Barnes was very frustrating , slow at blowing the whistle , lenient for card situations .. but he at least didn’t have any game changing errors . I’ll have to watch the game in full a couple of times on YouTube now . Overall Leinster looked quite comfortable and I was always confident they’d get the chances near the end . Let not forget Tales was dropping for a draw, I think Leinster would have had too much for Racing if it had gone into extra time