No player has loomed more imposingly, more regularly and more effectively over Leinster’s ambitions of lifting a fifth Champions Cup more than Big Bad Will Skelton.
A vital cog in the Saracens team that beat Leinster in the 2019 final in Newcastle and the 2020 quarter-final at an empty Aviva, Skelton was then the enforcer in the La Rochelle team that beat Leinster in the 2021 semi-finals and both the 2022 and 2023 finals.
Granted, last season Skelton’s presence could not prevent Leinster beating La Rochelle in the opening pool match in the Stade Deflandre and then putting Ronan O’Gara’s team to the sword with a 40-13 win in the quarter-final at the Aviva in April.
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But so regularly has Skelton’s massive frame stood in the province’s way that Ian Madigan dubbed him “Leinster’s kryptonite”.
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The Australian chuckled on hearing this, but quickly reasoned: “In the last two games I got pumped by them both times so I don’t think I can live up to that name any more mate.
“But it’s extremely special playing against a team like Leinster who are, week-in, week-out, a world-class side, and if I can be available this week I’d love to be involved and play against them again. I love testing myself against the best and that’s what Leinster means to me.”
Alas for La Rochelle, but perhaps encouragingly for Leinster, it looks like the Australian lock might be ruled out of Sunday’s latest Champions Cup showdown between the two teams at the Stade Deflandre (kick-off 4.15pm local/3.15pm Irish time) due to an ankle injury.
“I’m injured bro,” he freely admitted in an interview with The Irish Times, having missed La Rochelle’s last two games, a loss in Perpignan and last Saturday’s last-ditch 22-19 win over Toulouse, as well as Tuesday’s training session.
“I’m trying for this week, and you never know, I might still play. We’ll wait to the end of the week and then we’ll see,” he added, not sounding too optimistic.
This is one he’d hate to miss.
“Leinster are one of the best teams in the comp and even in the world. They’re unreal mate, so it’s always good to play against them.”
Skelton joined Saracens from the Waratahs in 2017 after a successful eight-game loan spell with the club, and that 2019 win in St James’s Park accompanied two Premiership titles with Saracens. As well as providing “awesome memories” and friends for life, he was “a sponge for rugby” and says working with Mark McCall and the coaches and players there made him a better life.
“He’s not as hands-on as I’m used to it with head coaches,” Skelton says of McCall. “He really trusted his assistants but whenever he needed to get his message across he’d always be the big man. His attention to detail and the way he motivated us was second to none. What I loved about him was that he was always cool and calm, he trusted in the system and the club culture, and that never wavered, and that system is a credit to how he’s led the place.”
He’d have stayed for the remainder of his career, but Saracens’ issues with the salary cap and pruning of their squad led to La Rochelle stepping in ahead of the 2020-21 season. Five seasons on, he couldn’t be happier.
La Rochelle is a beautiful city on the Atlantic coast and its club has become a hotbed of French rugby. Covid aside, last week’s win over Toulouse was La Rochelle’s 100th sell-out in succession at the Stade Deflandre.
“There’s not many places where you could say you get a sold-out game every weekend, albeit only 16,700, but the population of the town is 70,000 so to have a sell-out of around a quarter of the population is pretty special.
“The whole town get involved. They were really welcoming to me when I first came here and we love it here,” says Skelton who, with his wife Kate, has two young boys – Julius (four next month) and Jude (born last December 27th).
“My two boys were born here and my wife and I really love it here. It’s perfect mate. It’s 10 to 15 [minutes] to get anywhere. The people are really nice, the footy is great.”
By sharp contrast, whereas Saracens are a relative dent in the enormous metropolis that is London and had already won two Champions Cups, La Rochelle is a one-club city for whom the 2022 Champions Cup was the first trophy in the club’s history.
“Mate, that was the stark difference. When we won the European Cup with Sarries I walked down the high street in St Albans in full costume and no one stopped us. No one knew who we were and then three years later I’m winning it with La Rochelle and the bus can’t move with 40,000 in the port chanting and singing songs and lapping it up.
“It’s a different mentality here. It doesn’t mean, it’s just a different feeling in France. It’s the first trophy we’ve ever won and to be involved in that is something that will live with me forever. It drives me every day to keep replicating that feeling because it’s a very hard thing to do. To do it twice, we’ll never take that for granted, but we want more man.”
It’s a common feeling throughout the La Rochelle squad. Hence, their relatively humdrum domestic form, they sit sixth with eight wins and six defeats after last Saturday’s laboured last-ditch win over a third-string Toulouse team, can be overlooked, witness their Champions Cup wins away to Bath (24-20) and at home to Bristol (35-7).
“We live for Europe. It’s something that Rog has instilled in us. This ‘comp’ means a lot to this club. In my first year the boys were celebrating making the quarters, and then when you knock off a team like Leinster in the semis to reach the final it’s far out. It’s crazy.
“It starts to become a habit and that winning mentality is something that really drives us and last season was extremely disappointing not making those bigger games.
“Yeah, the start of our season hasn’t been good but that’s a common theme with this bloody team. We try and play our best footy at the end of the season, but we’ve got to be better this week.”
And, in the competition they love and against rivals who beat them twice last season, they almost certainly will be.
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