Successful teams need a little luck along the way to see them triumph in a tournament or a league campaign. There are days when you are bulletproof and others when there are so many holes in the performance it’s a marvel that you don’t sink. Winners find a way.
Leinster’s victory over La Rochelle was based on an outstanding performance from the collective, emotionally, and physically, intense, and focused. It was a quarter-final, so the challenge for Leo Cullen’s squad was to ensure they brought the same quality to Croke Park last weekend. They didn’t.
In 2006 we went to Toulouse in the quarter-final and produced a display for the ages, a victory topped off with one of my favourite tries, Denis Hickie’s coast-to-coast extravaganza. We failed dismally to recreate those highs in the next game a couple of weeks later and were soundly thumped by Munster at Lansdowne Road.
Ireland have peaked in the pool stages of a few World Cups. In the 2019 tournament England beat New Zealand and hadn’t enough left in the tank in the final, while France have suffered their own heartache in the global competition on several occasions.
I have written previously that when you reach the business end of a season, it is important for teams to improve week-on-week. Failing to reach that standard leaves a team susceptible to defeat; on those occasions it’s about the capacity to grind out the win, finding a way when short of your best. Good fortune can play a part.
On the day that we went ‘super nova’ in Toulouse, Munster struggled to shake off an unfancied Perpignan on a windy afternoon in Lansdowne Road. Ronan O’Gara’s boot was primarily responsible for their passage to the semi-final in a 19-10 victory.
South Africa’s World Cup semi-final win over England last year went down to the wire, the Springboks riding their luck a little before falling back on a strong fundamental, the scrum, to secure the result.
My own playing experience is littered with those sliding door moments in matches. The 6-5 victory over Harlequins at The Stoop, the infamous ‘Bloodgate’ match, the Lazarus-like recovery in the second half of the 2011 European final win over the Northampton or a last-ditch ‘hit and hope’ tackle that was enough to dislodge the ball and prevent Clermont Auvergne centre Wesley Fofana claiming a match-winning try (2012).
While it might appear to be stating the obvious, in all of those games it was about finding a way to win on days when performance levels dipped, either from the start or during the contest. Rocky Elsom dragged us through the ‘Quins game, Johnny Sexton’s half-time speech galvanised the team against Northampton while we defended for our lives against Clermont.
We were sub-par by our standards in the aforementioned matches – but we found a way to win. As I watched Leinster play at Croke Park last Saturday, it was clear very early that something was amiss. The timing of runs, accuracy of passing, some of the decision-making was slightly off kilter.
Once Northampton eventually took the invitation to attack, when presented with multiple handling mistakes, the English club clawed their way back into contention. Leinster needed something to change the narrative that was building, and it came in the form of reinforcements from the bench.
Jason Jenkins and Jack Conan, in particular, did more in that final quarter to try to preserve Leinster’s lead than most of their team-mates. Jenkins demonstrated how to clean rucks and the hug from Tadhg Furlong after a scrum penalty said more than words ever could. Conan was everywhere and, in the final attack from Northampton, an isolated player was swamped by Caelan Doris and Conan to win the turnover.
It was a far cry from the moments after James Lowe’s third try when Leinster seemed set to kick on and power away to a comfortable win. However, they invited the Saints back into the contest on the back of inaccurate, scrappy play.
What matters most now is how this result is framed for the players and how they frame it themselves. Game plans are made and strategies devised, but a team has to be flexible enough to react to the ebb and flow of a game; figuring out and solving problems on the hoof, to mix sporting metaphors.
Ultimately what matters most is winning the match. It was close, the performance was poor at times, but when one team needed a big play in the final moments it was Leinster that stepped up. I have little doubt that Leo Cullen, Andrew Goodman, Jacques Nienaber and Seán O’Brien will be lauding the resilience of the team first before determining how they can avoid a repeat of that final-quarter fragility.
While the collective performance wasn’t there, Leinster were able to rely on individuals to win the match. Jamison Gibson-Park’s performance was exemplary, his decision-making and execution was top drawer, but it was the edge with which he played that stood out for me.
His body language was aggressive, he got involved in a bit of pushing and shoving over the ball and uncharacteristically there was very little emotion when tries were scored. This was a businesslike performance, not built on emotion but on a desire for the result.
I remember that head space at various times in my career. There are occasions when there is no love or enjoyment for the game, the only thing that matters is the result. Gibson-Park has turned 32, Lowe hit that figure in the summer, and like many of their team-mates they have yet to win a Champions Cup.
There are only a handful of players from Leinster’s last triumph in 2018, and while Gibson-Park was on the bench, it’s not the same. He wants to win a trophy from the driving seat, a starter, and now is as good a time as any. At this age there won’t be too many opportunities on the horizon.
I suggested last week that this was as big a test of leadership as anything. Gibson-Park, Lowe, and the impact from the bench were pivotal in providing that guidance; big players for big moments.
Gibson-Park’s approach to the match, in particular, should serve as a minimum standard for everyone. There was no drop in performance from the key man, and the challenge for all of his team-mates is to replicate that quality over the coming weeks.
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