Not surprisingly Leinster’s latest renewal of hostilities away to La Rochelle on Sunday, January 10th has been set up intriguingly as the two sides moved top of Pool 2 of the Champions Cup over the weekend.
Leinster’s hard-earned 15-7 win over Clermont at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening was followed by Ronan O’Gara’s side beating Bristol 35-7 to leave them both on nine points and so ensure their round three meeting goes a long way toward deciding their pool.
Is the Champions Cup on its last legs?
Whereas Leinster were bulk suppliers to Ireland for a fourth autumn Test just a week before their opening 35-12 Champions Cup win against Bristol, both Bristol and Clermont were largely unaffected by the November internationals, with Leo Cullen also noting that they had used 47 players in the first six rounds of the URC.
“So, we are coming up against very cohesive teams, whereas I feel that we are a long way off being a cohesive team,” admitted Cullen after the victory over Clermont.
“We were able to muddle our way through, but it did feel like we were muddling our way through,” added Cullen, whose side were unable to push on from scoring two first-half tries as they had done in Bristol.
“The reality is that we are not quite where we want to be. But how many teams can say that they are where they want to be right now? So, you have to get through to a position where we are playing the big games at the end of the season but we still have a good bit to go there.”
Still, there were several positives, not least another strong, try-scoring game from Jordie Barrett, who has hit the ground running, another polished outing from Sam Prendergast and another lung-bursting effort from Andrew Porter.
Furthermore, Clermont sit third in the Top 14 and, on the back of four successive wins and as they warned beforehand, did not turn up at the Aviva to have their bellies tickled.
By contrast, Ulster sit bottom of Pool 1 after conceding 101 points in their opening two games against Top 14 big guns Toulouse and Bordeaux-Bègles.
Ulster were competitive for 60 minutes at the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday and led 19-14 until the hour mark, but once Joey Carbery edged Bordeaux in front by converting Damian Penaud’s try from the touchline, and then cheekily cupped his right ear after receiving plenty of stick from some among the home crowd, the French side pulled clear with three more tries in a 40-19 statement win.
“Nobody wants to ship 100 points in two games,” admitted the downcast Ulster captain Iain Henderson afterwards.
“We’ll be judged on how we react to that internally and externally. The last three weeks we have played Leinster [in the URC], Toulouse and Bordeaux and they are three of the top teams in Europe.
“We knew this was going to be the start of a tough period for us. We are going to measure ourselves on how we turn up on Monday morning and approach the week,” he added in advance of next Friday night’s significant derby at home to Munster.
Meanwhile, Munster’s 16-14 defeat against old foes Castres on Friday came at a cost with six players forced off before the end with varying injuries.
Interim head coach Ian Costello strongly hinted that in addition to the injured Craig Casey, fellow Irish internationals Tadhg Beirne, Peter O’Mahony and Jack Crowley would most likely be rested for next Friday’s URC game against Ulster, while Evan O’Connell and Gavin Coombes, curiously omitted for the Castres excursion despite travelling with the squad, will be among those restored.
Munster also host Leinster a week subsequently in their traditional Christmas sell-out at Thomond Park, before their concluding Champions Cup pool games at home to Saracens on Saturday, January 11th and Northampton away a week later.
Last Friday’s defeat has left Munster little elbow room, given they sit third in Pool 4 on six points, behind Northampton on 10 and Saracens on nine after their 28-17 win away to Stade Francais on Sunday.
“Yeah, the next one is critical, isn’t it?” Costello admitted of the Saracens game. “Your games at home in this group is the key. You’d like to think if we beat Saracens we’re into the knock-out stages, but again that’s a big if. Saracens are a quality side and we’ve two massive games between now and then and that’s where our focus is for now.”
But Munster’s position in the URC table, they sit 11th and a point behind Ulster, and the expectations of a rare full house a week later in Thomond Park, places equal importance on those games.
“Yeah, it absolutely does, and we still have to go up next week and got to Ulster, and four points there would be gold in terms of league positions,” said Costello.
“So, we won’t look to Leinster. That will be a great occasion on the 27th but we need a serious performance in Belfast next Friday night.”
Connacht head to the Aviva to face Leinster on Saturday (kick-off 5.30pm) leading Pool 1 in the Challenge Cup with a maximum 10 points after their fine 31-18 win in Perpignan on Sunday. Connacht host Lyon, also unbeaten and a point behind, on Saturday January 11th at 8pm in the Dexcom Stadium.
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