Leinster found another way to lose.
One of the constituent elements of their demise this time, team selection, a primary bugbear in how the evening unravelled for the home side as Jordie Barrett‘s influential, if maddeningly belated 31-minute cameo graphically illustrated.
The legacy is one of acute frustration, disappointment and regret, unfortunately familiar emotions as they nurse another Champions Cup heartbreak into next season. Their last European triumph in 2018 becomes a little smaller in the rear-view mirror.
Samuel Beckett wrote in his novella Worstward Ho: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better” – words that have been appropriated in business and sport as a rallying cry against adversity, appearing on T-shirts, posters and in TED talks.
There is a temptation to suggest that it would serve as an all-encompassing slogan that describes a seven-year itch that Leinster have failed to scratch in the quest for European glory. But it would be wide of the mark to suggest that they ‘failed better’ at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening. This in no way detracts from a brilliant and deserved victory for the Northampton Saints.
Beckett’s sentiment about ‘failing better’ it can be argued is not about a failure to create or to achieve but rather a failure to undo something that stubbornly refuses to be undone, like Leinster’s inability to find a way to cap a losing sequence in pivotal knock-out European matches in what’s become an unrelenting tale of woe.
Ghosts of past defeats also returned, a hotchpotch of inaccuracy, a lack of composure, questionable decision-making, a failure to appreciate and convert opportunities, untypically porous defence (58 per cent tackle completion, 36 missed), where communication and cohesion disappeared at crucial times.
Not to mention a huge end game, crap-shoot gamble, in trying to roll a seven when three points were on offer from their penultimate penalty award. The priority at that point should have been to draw level.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen used the expression “haunt us” in his post-match thoughts but exorcising the demons of this defeat won’t be easy. Any lingering grievances about the officiating should be put to one side.
The rough and smooth evened out and it wasn’t the root cause of defeat. Leinster had a surfeit of possession and opportunity to determine the result, by their own hand without recourse to ancillary aid. Referee Pierre Brousset went down some verbal culs-de-sac in explaining one or two decisions, but his reasoning, right or wrong, was plausible in a sort of, ‘fair outcome’ way.
Instead, the Irish province must look closer to home, starting with selection, where leaving Barrett on the bench and Cian Healy on the pitch for just 19 minutes, was an indulgence that backfired. Cullen said beforehand that he could have started the All Blacks centre if he wanted and logically that makes sense.
Barrett, on a short-term, six-month contract, is hardly blocking the development of Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose. Why would the IRFU, who sanctioned the move, stipulate that he couldn’t play in a European semi-final thereby scuppering the province’s chance of potentially winning the tournament and maxing out on the prize money that would go to the Union in those circumstances? That would be financially dopey.
A recurring issue for Leinster throughout the game was to throw a glut of errors in quick succession, a sequence that began virtually from the first whistle.
The home side won a penalty after 48 seconds, turned down a shot at goal to kick down the touchline but thereafter had a maul turned over, conceded a free-kick at the ensuing scrum, a penalty at a ruck and had a kick charged down.
Worse was to follow for the first of Tommy Freeman’s hat-trick. Josh van der Flier, one of his team’s best players on the day, chased hard on a kick, his team-mates showing varying degrees or urgency, the upshot more doglegs than a kennels. Fin Smith chose a gorgeous line and his diagonal grubber kick was equally sumptuous.
Leinster didn’t learn a lesson because the outstanding Henry Pollock’s try had similar DNA is cutting back against the grain; a great line, the player late on to the ball at pace through a gap that shouldn’t have been there, watched by four blue-shirted players defending precisely nobody on the short-side of the ruck.
The Saints attacked with flair and a sense of adventure on the back of warp-speed ruck ball that was great to watch, but their opponents missed far too many basic tackles. Every time Leinster hauled themselves out of the hole, they fell right back in with another defensive misstep.
In contrast Northampton tackled like dervishes, aggressive, focused and aligned and they preyed on the home side’s ad hoc set-up in attack, which became bent out of shape after a few phases or occasionally undermined by poor handling.
The old blemishes resurfaced, no footwork in contact, ball carriers both easily identifiable and receiving possession from a standing start.
The last play of the first half epitomised this weakness. James Lowe, Robbie Henshaw, twice, RG Snyman, Caelan Doris and Joe McCarthy were all static in receiving possession. Too often Leinster players were beaten to the shoulder at the breakdown, where Wallaby Josh Kemeny and Pollock had a field day.
And yet Leinster found themselves chasing a third try from a tap penalty one minute from time to rescue victory. It’s the hope that kills. Small margins are far worse than a blowout.
It won’t come as much of a consolation, but Tommy O’Brien’s performance was of the highest calibre and should lead, deservedly, to a first Ireland cap in the summer. Typically, combative in the tackle – he forced one turnover with a thumping hit, he beat the first opponent time and again with footwork or power in contact, his clearing out at rucks was exemplary, as was his kick/chase work.
The URC may be the less glamorous sibling in tournament terms but for Leinster another season without silverware would be galling. No time to wallow. A gung-ho attitude is required. Time to be bold and play, bringing to bear all their resources.
