Take the pulse of Leinster’s attack in any given match and you will find Jamison Gibson-Park at its heartbeat, the player that elevates adrenaline levels on the pitch and in the stands. The Leinster and Ireland scrumhalf projects a blue-clad blur of activity, perpetually in motion.
It seems appropriate to adapt former Irish Times rugby correspondent Paul McWeeney’s eulogy to Jack Kyle (based originally on Baroness Emma Orczy’s ditty about The Scarlet Pimpernel) in a homily to the 31-year-old Leinster scrumhalf based on his man-of-the-match performance in the Heineken Champions Cup semi-final victory over Toulouse.
“They seek him here, they seek him there, those Toulousains seek him everywhere, that paragon of guile and spark, that damned elusive Gibson-Park.” A bit of fun but not a large exaggeration in terms of his influence on Leinster’s victory. He was outstanding.
The billing for the match suggested that two of rugby’s premier scrumhalves, Gibson-Park and the wonderful Antoine Dupont, fresh from his latest accolade as 2023 Six Nations player of the tournament, would get to duel on the Aviva turf. However, it was a tete-a-tete that lasted about 15-minutes, permanently interrupted by an injury to Toulouse centre Pierre-Louis Barassi.
Ugo Mola’s decision to play personnel roulette with a 6-2 split on the bench, a case of going all-in for the “rouge et noir” backfired horribly. It necessitated a sizeable backline reshuffle with Dupont moving to outhalf, Romain Ntamack to inside centre and Pita Ahki to outside centre, although it didn’t cause the latter a bead of sweat as he had an excellent game.
Taking the world’s premier scrumhalf, Dupont, out of position and removing him from where he’d get more touches than any other, gave arguably the global game’s second-best number nine, Gibson-Park, a free run at dictating the game’s pace notes and being perfectly positioned to closely trail the footfall of his excellent pack of forwards.
Dupont still managed to threaten on occasion when menace was diluted a little by his repositioning. Gibson-Park’s speed, his vision, his choice and range of passing and an on-point kicking game ensured that he was an enabling presence for his team-mates.
The Leinster scrumhalf’s first involvement was a pinpoint clearance, 40-metres up the field and one in from the touchline, that landed in Thomas Ramos’ hands just as Hugo Keenan arrived. On 90-seconds, he was on hand to support the excellent Charlie Ngatai’s line breach and without breaking stride, Gibson-Park put in a beautifully weighted kick through for Jordan Larmour to chase.
His ability to find the pressure points to squeeze opponents was evident in advance of the match’s opening score, ducking past Dorian Aldegheri on the fringe of a ruck. The only blemish was being too passive and failing to come forward in making a hit on Ahki, Toulouse’s first try scorer. Gibson-Park should have forced Ahki to make that final pass.
It was a minor aside when weighed against his overall contribution; the setback had no outwardly material effect. He tormented Ramos twice in the space of a couple of minutes, the first with a brilliantly judged 40-metre clearance that saw the Toulouse fullback concede a lineout and then goading the French international into going for a one-handed intercept that cost Ramos a yellow card.
Gibson-Park’s pass to the outstanding Jack Conan for the number eight’s first try appreciated that the Toulouse defence were narrow in orientation, fixated on the fringe of the goal line ruck. Gibson-Park was equally influential for Conan’s second try, ignoring a couple of team-mates in proximity and instead zipping a pass to Josh van der Flier, who in turn sent his backrow team-mate on his merry way to the try-line.
There were other less eye-catching but important interventions, particularly in working the backfield, filling gaps and hustling to breakdowns as Leinster chased further reward. Dupont was more peripheral but not relegated to the side hustings. It was his twisting run and ability to discard tacklers helped create momentum in the build-up to Emmanuel Meafou’s try.
The match endured a scrappy phase after the restart, with the handling being compromised by the rain. Gibson-Park fired a couple of departing salvos before leaving the pitch on 61 minutes to be replaced by Luke McGrath.
He helped to protect the ball carrier and try scorer Van der Flier for the final few metres of a well-crafted lineout maul and it was his thumping clearance that once again drew a fumble from fullback Ramos, who at that point must have been delighted to see him depart.
There were others who excelled like Conan, Dan Sheehan and James Ryan who were standouts in a superb collective performance from the pack, while Ross Byrne, Ngatai, Garry Ringrose and Hugo Keenan at various points bent the game to Leinster’s will. Gibson-Park, though, he was the player to pull all the strands together.
