CROWDS MAKE A difference.
They are one of the variables teams make an effort to shut out and diminish the influence of.
And yet it’s a double-edged sword, because those same teams will also attempt to harness the will of their people. Or perhaps turn their rival’s supporters to a negative force and slip the rug from the home side.
Connacht and Leinster go Toulouse and Lyon this weekend and will devote a little time prior to boarding their flights to brace themselves for the brass and invective that will roll off the stands during their 80-minute shift.
Rugby doesn’t offer up half enough culture shocks, but there is nothing quite like sights, sounds and smells of a regional clash in France when the crowd invoke the espirit du clocher and the players answer the call.
“It’s the way they feel rugby. Not only the crowd. The players, the way they’re expected to perform in front of their home people,” says Felipe Contepomi, who felt that expectation while on an up-and-coming Toulon side.
“That’s what you have to avoid, giving them that belief and momentum that can change the game.
“It’s 80 minutes of trying not to let their crowd get behind them. It kind of happens here when we play in the RDS. It’s massive for us and the guys, they feel it.”
They didn’t need most of their big guns to complete a clean sweep in the pool in their title-winning season. But Contepomi and Leinster were happy enough to dig up painful memories of last season’s loss away to Toulouse before travelling to take on Top14 leaders Lyon. As a stand-out performer in clashes with Montpellier (defeat) and Castres (a draw) in 2016/17, Robbie Henshaw knows that a fanbase is a factor worth preparing for.
“You just have to get the point across early in the week that it’s different to any away game that you play in the Pro14,” says the Athlone man.
“I think it’s the mentality of the crowd, that French mentality is completely different.
“And once you get that across during the week, and every player who has experienced it (makes sure others) know what’s coming…
It’s also a bit of excitement as well to get there and to put in a performance, and come away with the win, it’s a great feeling.
“We’ve done it in the last couple of seasons, so that’s also a good part of it. So it’s all positive and we’re really looking forward to it.”
Not everyone in Henshaw’s close-knit family looks ahead to raucous and, potentially, hostile atmospheres with such relish. Last Friday week, the Ireland centre was due to make his first appearance back at The Sportsground since making the move to Leinster in 2016.
He got sick overnight in Galway, though, and had to shelve the planned prodigal son moment for another year. Even years later, he is expecting a hot atmosphere whenever the day does come.
“I was looking forward to going back and playing there. My family weren’t too excited about it, but it was a little bit frustrating not to play.”
He adds with a laugh: ”Just my mum, my dad was alright. They’re not too caught up in it, but she didn’t want anyone from Connacht giving out about me – she decided if I did play there she wouldn’t go.”
I was wondering myself whether (the reception) would be a cheer or a boo. We were just messing during the week, it was good excitement and we were looking forward to it.
“The lads down there were looking forward to it too.”
“It was frustrating (to miss out) I was in bed all day, the day of the game, down with a fever.
“Fair play to the lads, they fairly muscled up and put in a physically dominant performance.”
The home crowd’s influence was quelled that day by an imperious physicality from Leinster. And they will set out to begin with a similar level of intensity this Saturday.
Always good to see Henshaw back fit and hopefully this is the season where he has more luck with injuries and illness.
It must have been a bad dose that made him miss the Connacht game because he looked like he’d lost a good bit of weight when he came on against Treviso last weekend.
He needs to play some rugby and maybe stop talking until he does so. He wears a Leinster jersey more for photo shoots than he does for games.
@Chris Mc: I often feel the same about our rugby players, especially when reading The42. But then I suspect that, with a few exceptions, the players do really want to talk, but are rolled out to the media by their provinces/IRFU as part of their obligations
@Kevin Ryan: Do NOT really want to talk
@Chris Mc: What an idiotic comment.
@Kevin Ryan: fair point, maybe those rolled out should be better selected. Conor Murrary talking about the new Irish coach should wait until a little closer to the six nations and be more concerned about the champions cup this weekend. ( again i know he’s been asked about this) but maybe Conor needs time to get his own game back to his previous levels and doesn’t need the distractions.
@Oval Digest: yeah your right he’s never missed a game since he signed for us.
Hopefully he’ll get more of a run at 13 this year for Leinster and that might help his injury profile hugely. I said when he left us that he’d be used as a crash dummy 12 and that it would shorten his rugby career massively (left us as an ultra exciting attacking offloading 15/13) and it looks like it coming to pass. Makes sense for Leinster as Ringrose has world class attributes (even if he’s not got quite as high a ceiling as Robbie) and they would be a lot weaker at 12 if Robbie played 13.
@Dino Baggio: I would agree that Henshaw is better at 13 than a 12 but imo ringrose has a higher ceiling certainly at 13 than Henshaw. I know it’s subjective but imo ringrose’s range of skills and the caliber of those skills are higher than Henshaw‘s and ringrose is still only 24 and his best years are ahead of him.
@Ian Verdon: Ringrose nearly 25, Henshaw is 26. Henshaw physically is and will likely always be miles ahead of Ringrose. If Ringrose can’t fool his opposition with subterfuge or use his intelligence to spot gaps he’s useless, Henshaw has all of this but also the gas and a power game to force a gap when there isn’t one. I love Ringrose as a player but think Robbie has the edge (Robbie much better offloader too imo).