ALL FOUR REMAINING teams in the Heineken Champions Cup have a winning track record in the competition, but the roll of honour is heavily tilted the way of Sunday’s semi-final at the Aviva Stadium.
Toulouse and Leinster have four titles apiece and whichever side forces their way into another final will be confident of taking an outright lead with crown number five.
The respective eras of dominance just barely overlapped, with Toulouse lifting their fourth Heineken Cup the year after Leinster’s first taste of European glory. That makes this weekend’s clash all the more tantalising as the French giants enjoy a renaissance.
Four European titles in nine years is a hell of a haul for Leinster, and the four stars sitting above their crest to represent all that success act as a bar to reach rather than a weight of expectation, says Sean Cronin.
“There’s obviously a huge legacy in this club. We want to back that up. What’s the point of being happy with success last year? That’s gone.
“We’ve got such a fantastic opportunity. We didn’t go through the pain of getting out of the pool and winning the quarter-final just to give up here.
“We want to get better and better, we want to drive the legacy, and put another star on that crest. That’s the sort of thing that drives us on.”
That bullish attitude to take aim at the big prize goes hand in hand with a shorter-term focus that most winning sports teams share, a diligence to nail down every detail.
“We’ve spoken about it, but we can’t get too ahead of ourselves. It’s one moment at a time and they can score from anywhere, so we’ll have to be switched on for 80 minutes. 80-plus, potentially.
“You can’t switch off against Toulouse, they’ll punish you from all areas. Clermont probably thought they were… they were (33-44) up at the weekend, one sin-bin and (Toulouse) get their opportunities and they’re absolutely lethal in taking them.”
McGrath’s somewhat wary approach is fuelled in no small part by the chastening taste of defeat. Both the helter-skelter loss in Toulouse back in October and the more recent home reversal at the hands of Glasgow Warriors. So while Toulouse come to Dublin on the back of a brilliant battle with Clermont, there is cause for concern if you put faith in Leinster’s domestic form.
At the very least there was plenty for senior coach Stuart Lancaster to get his teeth into during yesterday morning’s defensive review, but in looking ahead he made sure to remind players of the standards they set, the legacy left in Europe last season.
“The players are driven to succeed, they want to achieve for Leinster,” said the former England boss.
“When you’re a coach you have to draw on both experiences. You draw on the positives of winning last year: the adaptability we showed in the final, the positivity of beating a quality side like Saracens in the quarter-final and Scarlets in the semi-final. They were both at home, so you draw on all that, but you’d be naive not to learn from the past.
“We never skip around a difficult conversation about a review. we always draw a learning from it so we can become a better team.
I think if you’ve always got that mindset, you’re always going to be there or thereabouts.”
In many ways, the run to last season’s double success was fuelled by Leinster’s two semi-final exits in the 2016/17 season. As the final four approaches again, Cronin points out that they have already taken lessons from their only European loss in the 16 outings since falling to Clermont.
“It’s something we’ve learned from the Toulouse game over there, where we had to get our mindset clear that we’re pretty much ‘the hunted’ this season.
“We drew a lot from the loss to Clermont the year before. It’s funny how you have to change your mentality a small bit. We’ve tried to adapt that way and realise there is a target on our back and teams are going to go up that extra 10-15% when they’re playing us and we’ve got to be ready for that.”
Even against fellow four-time champions, Leinster will be comfortable wearing the favourites’ tag.
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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.