The Champions League produced drama in Madrid on Wednesday night. Real scored two goals in added time to force extra time to stun Manchester City and advance to the final. The rugby equivalent has produced a lot of its own drama over the years and Munster and Toulouse have often been in the middle of it. Yesterday was no different in a sunny Aviva stadium.
Unster recently hit a milestone, which coincided with the confirmation of Graham Rowntree as the next head coach. But it could also be down to their side realizing that playing for Munster is synonymous with success and their legacy will be built on trophies above all else.
To win this competition, Munster had to start quickly. Toulouse have won just one of their last eight away matches this season and Munster needed to test their confidence and resolve on the road. The Toulouse game is based on high risk and high reward, but they squandered a lot of possession with statistically the most turnovers conceded of any quarter-final this weekend.
But above all, Munster needed to stop the best player in the world, Antoine Dupont, from doing what he does in almost every game he plays, “Piss!”. I’ve never seen Dupont as shaken as he was on Saturday, and seeing their “King” trashed at the back of many rucks, other key men started to look human.
At 63 minutes that turnover stat was 13-5 in favor of Munster which tells its own story in terms of the fight Munster showed and the pressure they created.
With the ball, Munster was tactically very smart. They kicked a lot and tried to hit him long and straight.
They kicked it three times into the dead ball area in the first half alone which led Toulouse to three retirements on the goal line which restored possession to Munster in the right area of the pitch. .
Munster consistently used the power of Damian de Allende to get them on their feet, but they also got creative on their own leading to tries from Keith Earls and Mike Haley.
However, Toulouse tend to finish games strong. They exploit tired defenders, having a better bench in places than their starters.
They go with a 6/2 split and that power tends to hurt. Munster handled this Toulouse push beautifully until they conceded a smooth try on a lineout when Matthis Lebel scored his second of the game under the posts without a hand being laid on him.
Toulouse had almost exclusive use of the ball for the final 20 minutes, but some of the shots Munster struck were thrilling and inspiring.
Physically outclassed, they showed heart and resilience to defend their line time and time again. John Ryan forced a brilliant turnover from Cyril Baille to win a scrum for Munster but he couldn’t pin the team head tight and from the penalty Thomas Ramos leveled the game and we went into cautious extra time.
Ben Healy and Ramos missed drop goal attempts and with both teams level on tries scored, we went to penalties. It’s a cruel way to lose and Munster can come out with their heads held high. They still have a shot at silverware through the URC and have shown they can mix it up with the best in Europe.
In 2007, Leo Cullen and Shane Jennings, two products of Leinster’s schools and clubs background, were convinced to return to Dublin from Leicester Tigers by Michael Cheika and Mick Dawson.
There were other high-profile, hard-hitting signings, but the two homegrown lads have been huge in helping to change the culture in the dressing room.
The Tigers were the dominant team in England and had an advantage we lacked at Leinster. It wasn’t a big speech or a Powerpoint presentation, but they set standards day by day and we started to get harder on ourselves, demanding more every day. Those foundations are still in this Leinster team.
Going back to Welford Road yesterday with the team he has would have been very nice for Cullen. He has locked horns with coach Steve Borthwick several times on the pitch, but yesterday was their first meeting as head coaches. Borthwick did a great job of getting the Tigers back to the top of the table, but when he asked his team how many of them had already played against Leinster, he didn’t get many positive responses.
That should have been a wake-up call. Regularly playing Leinster as a non-URC team means you’re knocking on the door of the Rugby Champions Cup. Teams like Leinster, Toulouse, Saracens and Munster have such pedigree in this competition that they know how important every moment is when it comes to the knockout stages. You have to control the momentum and not give teams easy points.
Leinster had rested their understudy as the young players traveled to South Africa. The first team looked fresh and lively from the start and tries scored by Josh van der Flier and Robbie Henshaw were well executed, although too weak from the Tigers’ perspective.
Jamison Gibson-Park had a chair trick and the quality of the carry and cleanup meant he had a super fast ball. He is, in my opinion, the best scrum half in the world right now at keeping that ball fast.
James Ryan came back from injury with flying colors and put in 76 minutes of quality work.
Shocked and 20 points down, the home side needed half-time and to be fair they rallied and scored first through Chris Aston, who last week broke the record tries scored in the Premiership.
Leicester came back strong but a steely lineout from Ryan and a turnover when blind South African Hanro Liebenberg took a quick kick but lost the ball on the next ruck, showed just how difficult it is to break Leinster, even when they lose momentum. Every time Leinster have entered the Tigers’ 22 they have scored which is exceptional. Being under the pump in this third quarter and staying calm and managing it well will be for Leinster as there will be some hairy moments against Toulouse next weekend.
As we have seen, Toulouse win most of their games with their bench but I think Leinster have more than enough depth and will be able to handle current champions Aviva.
I think this Leinster side have all the tools they need to win their fifth Champions Cup.