Battlefield intelligence and chiselled emotions showed why Leinster are the smartest team in Europe

Neil Francis

Back-rowers deliver an exhibition as Conan puts vaunted star in his shade

Leinster's Jordan Larmour dives over to score his side's second try despite the tackle of Exeter's Stuart Hogg during Saturday's Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final at Sandy Park. Photo: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

April 10 2021 10:05 PM

This was an exceptional performance. Leinster were 14-0 down and staring into the great twilight of a thumping from an English side that had got a valuable hit out the previous week. Leinster were blowing hard and making mistakes all over the park. This could have been a long afternoon. The blue side, however, have shown stubbornness in the face of the odds and in the chase they showed the sort of resilience that almost suggested daring.

Leinster drew on their proven bank of experience and in the end, it was not so much defence but defiance that won it for the Irish province.

The template for the win was so much more than rehearsed competence and if you were looking for ‘The Why’ then several reasons are less convincing than one — Leinster won because they are the smartest team in Europe, and it was their battlefield intelligence and chiselled emotions in the heat of battle which has seen them win the big prizes over the course of the years. The old motto “believe you can, and you are halfway there” sums up this team.

Johnny Sexton failed a HIA in the 27th minute and it is true that he was the second missed tackle on Tom O’Flaherty for Exeter’s first try when the winger pirouetted out of some shoddy attempts. Before he went off Sexton managed to get his side back into the game and that was absolutely telling. That should in no way underestimate the contribution of Ross Byrne whose CV and reputation gets better with every performance in matches of this calibre.

But this match was won by the Leinster back-row who had an astonishingly industrious afternoon.

The elemental rawness of the exchanges throughout the full 80 suggested that David Ewers, Jacques Vermeulen and Sam Simmonds would hold sway here. Some have suggested that Simmonds be given a ticket to South Africa with the Lions — that silly talk has been put to bed now and if anyone deserves it that would be Jack Conan, who completely outplayed his vaunted opposite number.

Ewers is a huge unit and has a face that would stop a clock and a haircut straight from the 1980s but Leinster managed to marshal and corral him effectively and when the Chiefs looked for fast ball or some yardage their chief ball-carrier in the heat of the moment he wasn’t able to provide it.

I have watched Josh van der Flier play over the last five or six years and he is a good international standard player but may not have acquired the sort of consistency at that level but his intelligence and nous in the exchanges has come up to such a level that all this talk of Hamish Watson going on a Lions tour really needs to be reassessed.

Leinster know how to use their No 7 really well and they use him as a shooter on point guard and it just seems to flummox every No 10 he plays against. He seems to be able to carry with more authority and he is just so good at the tackle scene that it is now becoming a case of opposition having to plan to deal with him. This was one of the best games I have seen him play. It was a sensational performance.

Rhys Ruddock, who for some reason seemed to be Leinster’s chief agent from kick-offs had an exceptional game in the air until he dropped the last one. When Exeter thought that they had recruited well and had the edge in their game to take on Leinster physically Ruddock produces one of those performances which begs the question why doesn’t he have 60 or 70 caps?

Leinster's Ross Byrne takes a penalty during the Heineken Champions Cup win over Exeter. Photo credit: Adam Davy/PA Wire

Leinster over the course of the last dozen seasons have picked up a priceless quality — they have learned to bide their time and the sort of purpose they showed in getting themselves back into the game is almost like a reflex response.

It is something that they manage to do automatically. Although I would suggest that most of the Leinster faithful would wish that they did not have to chase down 14-point deficits after 17 minutes. Remember there were no guarantees that Exeter would not have been able to manufacture another try and make it 21-0.

Leinster took responsibility for the moment and although he had a few nervous moments in the match Hugo Keenan again demonstrated what a sharp attacking threat he is offensively. Normally an attacking full-back running on a crossfield diagonal makes himself a target and usually gives his winger outside him very little space but Keenan’s pace caused Exeter’s defence to waver and he got the ball away to Larmour who did well to dot down in the right-hand corner to even up the game.

Somebody who did not do well was Stuart Hogg who yet again when the pressure was on he underperformed. He was poor also in trying to stop Leinster’s first try when Keenan somehow got his arms free after Hogg had come in to make the tackle.

Byrne’s conversion of Larmour’s try was phenomenal, as was his ability to slot one on the half-time mark when Johnny Hill let his arms slide up from the initial tackle. I though Matieu Raynal had a decent game but a shoulder to face is at the very least a yellow card.

There wasn’t a ‘holy shit’ moment in the game but you could see the trend being mapped out in and around the 70th minute as Exeter looked to rescue their season and defend their title. Leinster were defensively replete and so smart in reading what Exeter could come up with. At this stage the pace of the game was beginning to tell, and Exeter couldn’t think straight and the champion side could only hang their heads as their skills broke down under pressure as Leinster absorbed all of their best attacking gambits and frustrated them at the breakdown.

They just could not deal with Leinster at the tackle zone and Leinster’s back-row – all three of whom played the full 80 should get special mention because they were the winning of this game. If Leinster get a kind draw there aren’t too many sides left who will be able to deal with them.