THE FATE OF Glasgow Warriors in the Champions Cup will be a warning well-heeded by Leinster as this weekend’s final approaches.
The Scottish side ended the Pro14 campaign top of their conference with a superior points tally to all of their rivals entering the knock-out rounds, but in Europe they were continually thwarted by the English champions.
Wins over Cardiff Blues and Lyon ensured Dave Rennie’s excellent attacking side advanced to the quarter-final stage, but there they were pitted against Saracens for a third time this season. And the result followed the form guide as Mark McCall’s men blasted their way into the final four with a 56-27 success to add to the powerful 3-13 win in Glasgow and the five-try 38-19 victory that wrapped up their pool.
“Our plan was to play at a bit of tempo to move their big men around,” said Warriors coach Rennie with a residual hint of exasperation as he looked back before Sunday’s Pro14 awards in Dublin.
“We believe that our competition is a bit quicker, but you’ve got to be good enough to look after the ball. For a number of reasons we were poor on the day, we’ve been a lot better since. But certainly Leinster have got the game that could stretch them, but they are two very good sides.”
“Two juggernauts of Europe,” the Kiwi added, before pointing out that Leinster won’t necessarily need to seek out the fast and loose approach that unraveled his own charges.
“Leinster have got strength across the park and they’re prepared to go an inch at a time and gain lots of phases, we’ve seen it so often when they’ve gone 30-odd phases to score. So they’ll ask lots of questions of Saracens.”
Of course, Saracens’ last loss in this competition came at the hands of this weekend’s opponents – in last year’s quarter-final at the Aviva Stadium – and the reigning champions are not about to shy away from the traits which earned them the crown.
“Definitely, it’s very hard to crack them, but we’ll try to get some ideas,” said backs coach Felipe Contepomi, adding, “especially, to play our rugby, be Leinster and play Leinster style of rugby.
“We don’t have to change, we just have to make sure we can impose our way of playing, be ourselves and try to be the best we can on the day.”
The Leinster way has unquestionably evolved and expanded down the years. So while some may read Contepomi’s confidence in Leinster’s game as a call to play expansive rugby, the eastern province more often specialise in sapping opposition energy with prolonged, gruelling periods of attacking pressure. They lead the competition with 157 carries per game on average, and they will again be intent on owning possession.
“In every game it’s important to keep the ball because the more you have the ball, the more chances you have to score and not allow them to score,” said Contepomi.
“You can’t defend for 80 minutes against a team like Saracens, because it’s very tough.
“Obviously we want the ball as much as we can, but it will be crucial what we do without the ball as well.
“We’ll have to give our best performance of the year to beat Saracens, that’s the truth. “We’ll face that challenge and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
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You liat the KO at 14:30…. isn’t it 15:00? I’m booked in for a full head of highlights at 1 and won’t make a half 2 kick off……
@Bungee Aky: no it’s been changed to 2:30! You’d wanna tell the hairdresser to get a move on
@Boo Radley: you can’t rush perfection
Anybody got an update on the Bill Johnston move to Ulster? Asking for a friend.
@Jim Demps: is your friend Rochelle?
@Bungee Aky: don’t be silly Rochelle has no friends
@Jim Demps: is it a case of use it or lose it.
@Chris Mc: I’m all for it, hope it’s happening. It’d be a great move for him, Ulster and for munster.
@Jim Demps: I’m not sure how it’s good for munster but he does need rugby at this stage.
@Chris Mc: no point in having a 28, 26, 23 and 22 year old all vying for the same position. If Johnston moves on we’ve got a good balance there. At the moment with carbery the same age as him Johnston isn’t going to be given a fair chance so a move will suit him. For munster they can break in Ben Healy and give him the exposure as a young talent. It’s too easy for people to look at Johnston and say he was never given a chance but you can’t ignore his injuries. Two dislocated shoulders and a broken leg for a 22 year old is an awful lot of injuries and it’s bound to slow down his progression. Van Graan has shown that he will give young talent the chance it needs and I’d expect that to continue.
@Jim Demps: fair enough.
@Jim Demps: ‘exposure as a young talent’
When are you going to see what happens at Munster??
@Andrew H: I see it every game I go to Andrew. I’ve seen wycherley, loughman, Shane Daly, Gavin Coombes, o Connor and more all excel. You’re just using Bill Johnston as a tired old excuse to beat munster with. Too easy to compare young lads to Ryan and larmour, once in a generation talents who have as much international as club games under their belt. Try comparing them to their peers, Conor o brien to goggin, josh Murphy to wycherley, abdaladze to loughman and the picture might be a bit clearer for you.
2:30pm? My ticket says 3pm
@Thomyk: game will be over by then and Munsters season finished.
@Bungee Aky: could be right there lad , win r lose it’s supporting them that matters
@Thomyk: naw, nothing beats winning, you just forgot that it’s been so long
@Bungee Aky: won last Saturday pal , and I’m fairly sure we won a few games this season to, so maybe your talking through your anus now ?
Are you two done? Now up to your rooms and do your homework and leave your phones down.
@Thomyk: winning wars not battles
@Bungee Aky: grow a brain
Should be a belter and intimacy of the RDS for such a big game is again great as opposed to 3/4 full Aviva. Re KO info came out earlier for 2.30 KO on PRO14 Twitter
“Semi-Final KO Update: @leinsterrugby v @Munsterrugby to kick off at 14:30 on Saturday May 18 – live on @eirSport & @PremierSportsTV
#GuinnessPRO14”
@mrbryanrussell: if lowe plays it could be a rout
@Eoin Murphy: don’t think so, one thing is for certain let’s hope they don’t get sucked in like last time and focus on getting the job done. Should be a great match hopefully JVdF is back in the squad too as well as Joey
Will be tough for Leinster. Either they’ll all be hungover after winning the European cup, or in a sad shitty mood with no desire to play.
@sup: They’re highly motivated to do the double and if they lose to Saracens their determination will be even greater to win a trophy this season.