It began on Friday night in Claremorris, watching Ulster beat the Stormers on a big screen in a lovely bar called the Shamrock, continued into Castlebar on Saturday for Connacht’s historic invasion of the town to meet Munster, took in Jenny Greene’s Electric Disco on the N5 home so as to replay a “live” recording of Leinster’s truly titanic win over the Sharks in Durban and concluded by watching the Ireland women’s team put Italy to the sword in Parma on Sunday. Now that’s variety.
The words “we have to park that now” or “we have to turn the page” have been in vogue as the seasonal rollercoaster refocuses on another two-week hit of what was once known as “European” rugby with the return of the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup next weekend.
But before doing so, while Connacht may have let slip an opportunity on the pitch against 14-man Munster in MacHale Park, they certainly reached into parts of the province they’d never reached before in packing out the Mayo GAA stronghold. Ticket sales suggest that about 55 per cent of the 27,580, or circa 14,000 supporters, were sourced in the country of Mayo, and that the numbers were higher than ever from Leitrim, Roscommon and Sligo.
How did Leinster’s young guns outmatch the Sharks?
Connacht Rugby should reap benefits in years to come but the thought occurred as to why the province hadn’t done this before? And, by extension, even made a virtue of their smaller size by playing games in each of their other counties in the province as well?
Of course there are logistical difficulties in planning such ventures, as well as completing negotiations with the GAA. Presumably too, as with the Aviva Stadium at Lansdowne Road, there are certain obligations around Connacht playing matches at the Dexcom Stadium. Understandably, sponsors agree certain conditions when paying for naming rights.
Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen were still signing autographs and posing for selfies with high-pitched young Connacht fans at the side of the MacHale Park pitch after Munster’s 30-24 win when the latter were announcing their intention to move a prospective Champions Cup game next December to Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
Again, what took them so long? And why haven’t they done so with their festive derby against Leinster before now? There’s no doubt that Leinster have innate socio-economic advantages over their rivals but they’ve also been quicker to think outside the box. Next Saturday’s 60,000-plus Champions Cup Round of 16 sell-out against Harlequins is Leinster’s third “home” match at Croke Park.
If Leinster are in any way off their game next Saturday afternoon, Harlequins are the kind of irreverent, free-spirited side that can capitalise – witness last season’s 42-41 win away to Bordeaux-Bègles when sharing a dozen tries in that wild quarter-final.
Leinster have yet to scale the attacking heights of the Stuart Lancaster years or even truly convince this season. Yet Jacques Nienaber was in Durban in spirit if not in body for Leinster’s obdurate 10-7 win over a stacked Sharks and though none of that 23 might feature against ‘Quins, not even the magnificent Max Deegan, the energy that the returning heroes bring to their high-performance centre in UCD can only be a positive.
And, in “turning the page” on last weekend, we are reminded that Leinster have again set themselves up nicely in the knock-out stages of the Champions Cup, helped by Messrs Barrett, Snyman and Slimani. In earning a second seeding and another potential home route all the way to the final in Cardiff, Leinster even have a more favourable draw than the top seeds Bordeaux-Bègles.
Ulster must travel there on Sunday as 22-point underdogs after being beaten 40-19 at home by the French side in the pool stages and one hopes they try to put their best foot forward, unlike their opening game in Toulouse, where an understrength side were beaten 61-21.
As the 1999 champions and 2012 finalists, that didn’t sit right. Nor does Saracens, three-time champions, declaring their intention to prioritise “the Prem” this week by resting their England internationals, as even if they were to win in Toulon on Saturday their likely “reward” would be a quarter-final a week later away to Toulouse.
Such is the seemingly lopsided nature of the draw it’s no wonder that Ian Costello last week banned all talk of next Saturday’s mouth-watering Round of 16 renewal of acquaintances with Ronan O’Gara in La Rochelle. If the truth be told, Munster’s trek to Mayo to face Connacht last Saturday probably held out more promise for their seasonal run-in than this other glamour tie.
Had Munster won away to Castres when resting Gavin Coombes from their 23, they would have been in the latter’s position, ie at home to Benetton in the other half of the draw. Instead, Munster quite possibly have to win away ties against La Rochelle, Bordeaux-Bègles and Toulouse just to reach the final.
Not that the Red Army won’t travel in numbers to La Rochelle. Nor will Costello and Munster even for a second consider damaging their rich legacy in this competition by not giving it their absolute best shot. Anything less would be sacrilegious.
However, with weakened sides this weekend in mind, it remains a blight on both the Champions Cup and the Challenge Cup that the quarter-finals take place a week after the Round of 16. This is because the unholy alliance of French and English clubs have shoehorned the quarter-finals into the seasonal calendar in deference to the primacy of their domestic competitions.
As a consequence, nobody – not the participants, the fans, the TV companies, the media or anyone else – can begin making plans for the quarter-finals until they are finalised at less than a week’s notice. When the LNR/PRL axis completed their very Anglo-French coup d’etat against the old ERC, they made grandiose promises about emulating their footballing counterparts. Imagine the Champions League treating their own competition with such contempt?
Just because we’re getting used to it doesn’t mean it’s any less ridiculous.
