Anyone who was fortunate enough to have been in Cardiff this weekend would surely agree with me when I say that we witnessed in the flesh one of the greatest Heineken Cup matches ever. This was definitely the most remarkable of the 16 Heineken Cup finals, a match approaching greatness and a wonderful advertisement for how colorful, passionate and exciting European Club rugby can be. Walking around Cardiff city Saturday afternoon it was great to see Rugby fans from all over Europe enjoying the atmosphere wearing the Jersey of their local team. Perpignan, Toulouse, Ulster, Leicester, Glasgow, Munster and many more were on show. These tickets would have been bought at various stages of the season when they could still legitimaly dream of Heineken Glory. The fact that they still travelled to the final showed what an occasion it has become. We witnessed one of the greatest comebacks in any sport and one of the greatest individual performances in recent years from Jonny Sexton.
Sport, they say, is as much about character and attitude as technique and ability. Well, this Leinster side is definitely a collection of very special individuals. When the going gets tough the tough get going and its was no surprise to hear Brian O’Driscoll when interviewed on the pitch following the match spoke of how Jonny Sexton rallied the team at half time. Leaders are needed most when backs are to the wall and Leinster have lots of leaders. Jonny apparently spoke about other teams that had came back from big deficits in the past and how the Leinster players would remember this game for the rest of their lives if they could do it. Jonny has huge respect amongst the players and his words would have lifted them but the most significant thing about the 2nd half was the way Jonny took it on himself to lead the charge. He finished with 28 points, consisting of two tries, three conversions and four penalties.
Northampton put together 40 minutes of power, pace and aggression as they dominated at the breakdown and destroyed the Leinster scrum. They really looked like a team who felt they had nothing to lose and the ‘underdog’ tag suited them perfectly. We knew that they were strong scrumagers and Leinster would have spent the last few weeks tinkering with their own scrum tactics to try and nullify that strength. The basic premise to what Northampton do at scrum time is that on their feed they initially drive up on the loosehead side of Soane Tonga’uiha and that is easily achieved because of his strength and more importantly the defensive team are quite happy to give Northampton that angle as it negates the 8-9 going right option. Having got a slight left shoulder where Northampton differ from other teams is that they then use Hartley at hooker and Brian Mujati to drive towards Tonga’uiha which usually results in the opposition popping up. Once the scrum pops up it should according to the laws be reset if the referee can’t determine the cause. If one team is judged to have popped up because they couldn’t handle the pressure then they should concede the penalty. Similarly if the referee feels that one team is deliberately driving upwards then they should be penalized. The French referee on Saturday Romain Poite has always been someone who favors the dominant scrum and as far as he is concerned the dominant scrum is the one going forwards regardless of whether they go up on down. Because of Mujati’s short squat frame he was able to stay hidden underneath our front row even though he was the one acting illegally. Even though the scrums in the first half had popped up Northampton kept driving and as they were going forward they won the penalties.
It was clear that unless they sorted out their scrummaging there was going to be no come back. You can win matches without a lineout but if you have a weak scrum the resultant penalties will kill you. In the ten minutes between halves the Leinster scrum coach Greg Feek earned his salary for the year as he got the Leinster to forget about the previously discussed tactics and go back to what had given Leinster such quality ball in this area all year i.e. everyone working together and driving straight and low. Sounds simple but often the simple things work best and it’s far better to have 8 players working together than in groups of 3 or 4. The turnaround in the scrums in the 2nd half was amazing and we won two penalties, which led to 6 points. It also led to go forward ball which Sexton, Nacewa, Heaslip, O’ Brien and co turned into line breaks and tries. I have to say that Sean O’Brien was immense again and if there was a Lions tour this summer he would be a shoe in.
At the final whistle the scenes at Millennium told the story of the match in graphic detail. Every Northampton player slumped to the ground. Many of them were in tears. The despondency was almost tangible. They were broken physically and mentally. There was many Leinster fans in the crowd close to the same state at half time, myself included. I was certainly questioning my own pre match analysis and how I hadn’t seen this coming. Had I over estimated Leinster ability and underestimated Northampton’s strength and power? Leinster didn’t look themselves and unless there was a huge shift in momentum we were finished. But the players believed and once Sexton scored in the 43rd minute every fan started to believe too.
Jonny Sexton was definitely the man of the match but I wouldn’t underestimate for one second the influence of Leo Cullen on the day or over the past few seasons. He is a player’s player and while he may not steal the headlines his calmness, leadership and consistency are incredible. He has very high emotional intelligence and he cares about each player being treated fairly, which gains him the respect of anyone who shares a dressing room with. As the Leinster team walked back out the tunnel at half time to face their destiny, having Leo, Shaggy, Darce Brian and Shane Jennings amongst them would have given them real hope. Those lads have been there from the start and they deserve to be double champions of Europe and who knows maybe next year Triple Champions?
The season isn’t over yet however. They will need to get their tired bodies and mind ready for one more battle. Leinster travel to Munster on Saturday for the final of the Magner’s League in front of what is already a sell out crowd. Munster will be lacking no little motivation and if past games are anything to go by we are in for another epic encounter.
For my tips this week. I am’nt going to bet on the Magners League Grand Final but instead go for a Leicester and Racing Metro win double which works out at 5/4 on Betpack
