On January 18, 2003, Gloucester came to Thomond to see if they could top Pool 2 in the Heineken Cup by beating Munster. As it transpired, Gloucester came a cropper and lost 33-6 – and Munster got out of the group in second place, courtesy of Ronan O’Gara’s late conversion of a John Kelly try which gave them an additional two points over third-placed Gloucester. Perpignan won the group.
t is true that Gloucester were flying high in the Premiership at that time but even the tea lady will tell you that nothing is ever won in January. Gloucester have never won the Premiership nor the old Courage League.
The west country side have never won the Champions Cup either, but they have won the Challenge Cup, which is just about their appropriate level. Let’s call a spade a spade here. It wasn’t Real Madrid who were coming to town. Just what credentials could they show as they got off their bus? Zip!
Gloucester had some decent players in their ranks but also had a few delicate boys who did not quite understand what was coming their way that afternoon. Munster swallowed them whole that day as white-eyed panic consumed them. Ludovic Mercier was in the No 10 shirt. He resembled a chill looking to run up somebody’s spine.
All the exits had neon highlighter on them and Gloucester ran out the gate a toute vitesse with their hands held high. It is always good to do the English in any game, and to do so by reaching a mathematical quotient is equally pleasing – but save the bestowing of miracle-hood for sides that are worthy of it. Wasps beat Gloucester 39-3 in the Premiership grand final that year. No miracles needed there. Munster had a full house and full side out. It would have been a miracle if they had lost.
Leinster travel to Sandy Park in Exeter this Saturday as the sole representatives of the PRO14 – a sad indictment of the standard of the league. It is not a coincidence that Edinburgh and Scarlets were thrashed. At least the 56-3 hammering that the Scots endured was inflicted by Racing 92, who are formidable and were in the mood to do some damage. Scarlets were an embarrassment, going down 57-14 to a Sale side that will find the quarter-final going tough over in La Rochelle. Very tough!
The Scarlets have Leigh Halfpenny, Liam Williams, Jonathan Davies, Gareth Davies and Ken Owens who are very good shots for the Lions tour – maybe they are saving themselves and their form? Remember Wales won the Six Nations and ‘Wazza’ will still pick Welsh players when it comes down to it. They don’t have to turn up and play if they don’t want to.
The standard in the PRO14 is pitiful and is underpinned with the sort of apathy that the Welsh sides display season in, season out. If the Welsh teams aspire to play against the English Premiership sides, why not try and turn in a performance against one of their sides?
The biggest anchor against the PRO14 leaders progressing in the Champions Cup is the PRO14. The recent final showed to the fullest extent the limitations that constrain Munster, but conversely the same limitations that inhibit Leinster are the inability to throttle out and get into full gear.
I think it is tough on the senior players who have to shoulder all the pressure in the big games, but I do think that it was vital that Leinster got a good hit-out against Toulon.
I am sure Leinster would have come out winners, if the game hadn’t been cancelled, against a heavyweight French team that would have asked an awful lot of questions. Questions like how do Leinster perform when their pack does not have the upper hand? Just how good is that high-tempo game when you are being smashed on the gain-line? When you are so rarely put under pressure it is hard to know just how good you are. You certainly won’t find out in the PRO14.
Leinster face a miracle match this Saturday. They face a team that are the reigning Champions Cup and Premiership champions. A team with proper credentials. This is no pool qualification either – this is knockout rugby.
Rob Baxter rested his starters two weeks back, when he played his second string – appropriately against Gloucester. Jonny Gray and Stuart Hogg were busy that night anyway, beating the French in Paris. The Chiefs are comfy in second place in the Premiership and Baxter knows exactly what he wants to do. The Champions Cup is his main priority. The exit of Saracens means only Bristol stand in their way of repeating their domestic success from last season.
This match will be a labour of love and a work of fascination for Baxter, as the frustration was palpable in his face from the previous encounters in this competition against Leinster. The count is 4-0 to the blue side but should really have been 2-2. Leinster burned up some cat lives.
Exeter had the right mentality in those games but were short on quality and big-match experience. Baxter has recruited wisely and has the best core of quality players in the Premiership.
Still, they only had nine full internationals in their starting side against Lyon, and 13 in total in their 23. Not that they were all required to subdue a fairly brittle Lyon.
Exeter’s pack are a dogged and pretty physical bunch and it is typified by the two big personalities in their second-row, Jonny Hill and Gray. Hill may look like Chewbacca but Eddie Jones kept picking him, despite not getting the best performances out of him. There are plenty of quality second-rows on the scene to partner Maro Itoje for England – Charlie Ewels, Dave Ribbans and the talented 19-year-old George Martin.
None of them are adequate replacements for George Kruis but the Exeter pack keep on rolling over their rivals and Hill always seems to be in the vanguard. He was also a key performer in their big season last year.
Hill’s battle with Devin Toner will be the key match-up. How Ryan Baird goes against Gray will not be insignificant either. Gray must have been sick of the sight of Leinster when he was toiling for Glasgow. It is one of the reasons why he joined Exeter – to win things.
He will now have the chance to take on Leinster with a team that are not afraid of them, and will more than fancy their chances of success. They also have a game-plan to match and overcome Leinster and a coach who is a traditionalist but also smart enough to out-think Leinster.
I am not sure who started to use the relentless close-in pick-and-drive that you see used by Leinster and Exeter. It will be the key component of the game, who can get down to within five metres of the line and pound away.
It ain’t pretty but in close games that is the tactic that these sides use to press home their advantage. Both are very good at holding their line intact – technique and process over will and determination. Intriguing, if nothing else.
If Leinster had James Ryan, Caelan Doris, Will Connors and Garry Ringrose on board, you would give them a better chance. The thing is that Exeter have a bully-boy back-row as well, and defensively are aggressive and intelligent all across the park.
The kicking game is also where Exeter have the sense of where, and how, to kick to apply pressure – or when the need arises to go for territory with Hogg’s huge right boot. I am sure he has no love of Leinster either.
Leinster have not played a decent side since they lost to Saracens last September. They were caught cold that day and the limits of the PRO14 left them woefully ill-prepared to counter what Saracens threw at them. The same is going to happen on Saturday – and it will take somewhere between a fishes and the loaves up to a Lazarus-sized miracle to overcome these Exeter Chiefs.
