It isn’t just the players and management who feel the pain of a Champions Cup exit. It is everyone associated with that province, including supporters who were brought up on European rugby, and the media also play our part in hyping up the Champions Cup to the detriment of the URC and its many iterations over the years.
So it was that in the week after their Champions Cup final defeat by La Rochelle, last Saturday’s attendance at the RDS against Glasgow was 9,346, Leinster’s second lowest since crowd restrictions were lifted and marginally more than for the URC game against Edinburgh during the Six Nations.
There were several factors at work; the game being live on terrestrial television, the quarter-final not covered by season tickets and the June Bank Holiday weekend. Yet one wonders if Leinster had beaten La Rochelle how many more might have been in attendance.
In any event, after the full-time whistle last Saturday both James Ryan and Leo Cullen highlighted the importance of a full house for Friday’s semi-final against the Bulls at the RDS (kick-off 7.35pm), for which ticket sales are better.
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“It is massive, not just the noise but visually when you look around and see the place packed it gives you a massive buzz,” admitted Caelan Doris this week. “It lifts the spirits and makes you feel ‘this is a big game, they think it’s a big game as well’. So, yeah, it’s class having a full house and hopefully that’ll be the case on Friday evening.”
Considering the post-Euro hangovers suffered by Ulster and Munster, Leinster’s response to losing the final was even more creditable, albeit Doris revealed it was difficult.
“Having a game on Saturday helps you get it out of your system a little bit. The hurt is still there a bit and I’m sure it will be for a while, but it was a low few days and I was almost surprised how low I felt for a few days afterwards.
“You sort of almost feel sorry for yourself, you want to go back to different moments from the game and change them. ‘If I did this or that it could be different’.
“That sort of thought is going on, but we processed it pretty well as a group; reviewed it, tried to turn the page and move on to Glasgow and the opportunity to go again. It was a positive that our season wasn’t over. We still have the opportunity to lift a trophy at the RDS in front of friends, family and supporters.
“That’d be my first time to do that. I was around in 2020 behind closed doors, but to have the opportunity to win something in front of hopefully a full RDS is definitely exciting. Having that helped switch the mind to get up for it again, by the end of last week lads were feeling a little bit better and excited for what was ahead instead of dwelling too much on the past,” said Doris, a class operator on the pitch and a thoughtful fella who carries himself as well off the pitch.
He readily acknowledged that this first knock-out meeting a South African Super Rugby franchise will be an altogether different proposition to the quarter-final, when Leinster scored a dozen tries in a facile 76-14 win.
“The Bulls are, in some ways, more similar to La Rochelle. Very physical pack, more of a power-based team. It’s a good opportunity to go again and right a few wrongs from La Rochelle,” said Doris.
“I think it’s good for us. Probably a work-on over the past few years has been dealing with those power-based teams, not letting big men run through us and it’s the same with set-piece.
“The result went the wrong way, but in some aspects of that we were better against La Rochelle. That’s in part due to getting exposure against the South African teams and they obviously rely a bit more at set-piece and on their pack like most South African teams. So it’s another opportunity to go again at that.”
Nowhere will this be more evident than in the backrow. As in Leinster’s opening game of the season, Doris is again likely to come up against the former Ulster talisman Marcell Coetzee, ex-Munster flanker Arno Botha and the 22-year-old, 6′7″, 110kg number “8″ Elrigh Louw, the fourth most successful carrier in the URC this season just in advance of Coetzee.
“I always rated him very highly when he played for Ulster,” said Doris of Coetzee, “and the same this season, he’s been going well and has been their talisman.
“He’s got a pretty varied skill set. He’s extremely big, runs very hard and provides gainline for the Bulls. But, he’s also able to get his hands free and keep the ball alive with offloads.
“He’s someone we need to tackle with two men, ideally, to prevent him from getting go-forward. But, we can’t allow space to be created by two men committing to him, so he’s challenging in that aspect.
“They’ve got Arno Botha who was in Munster for a few years, Elrigh Louw as well who’s a young fellah who is very physical and a good player too. So, the three of them — we’ll have our hands full with them.”
