A culture rare in rugby, but common in successful sports teams - Neil Best
Nothing is as obnoxious as other people’s luck
The Pro14 final may yet open summer tour opportunities for Welsh and Irish players who didn’t make the first draft. With so many of the Irish and Welsh intended tourists involved in the Leinster v Scarlets final, you’ve got to think it’s statistically likely to open the door for one or two -through someone else’s misfortune. Bearing in mind that Ireland kick off in Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on the 9th June and Wales at the RFK Memorial Stadium in DC a week earlier -even a few minor knocks or injuries could cause significant disruption to international preparation.
Wales have thirteen of their thirty-one strong touring party involved with the Scarlets and Ireland have a massive sixteen of their thirty-two player squad, involved with Leinster, in addition to Munster bound Tadhg Beirne on his last game for Scarlets.
Continue reading below
As for the final itself you’ve got to think it must be the perfect end to the season for Leinster. The Dubliners put Scarlets to the sword in the first half of their Champions Cup semi-final just over four weeks ago and for me not enough has changed since then to tip the balance.
If anything, Leinster have been further battle-hardened by two hard grafted wins against Racing 92 and Munster. Scarlets might learn from those two matches how best to blunt Leinster, but they’ll also have learned in doing so you subdue yourself.
The positive for Scarlets is that they’ve had three wins in a row since the reverse to Leinster, but they haven’t really been tested in any of those matches. Even their Pro14 semi-final away to Glasgow felt like the Scots just didn’t turn up. Scarlets maybe needed to be pushed harder in that one to find the extra gear that will allow them to compete with Leinster. Don’t get me wrong, Scarlets aren’t a team with obvious weakness. They just don’t have Leinster’s strength from one to twenty-three.
As a player I always loved the big occasion -the bigger the platform the better I played. And Leinster seem to have no shortage of players prepared to step up and be match winners. Over time the biggest risk to Leinster will be complacency -and it’s virtually impossible to completely guard against it.
Their defence against it will be player turnover -always looking to identify the next hungry ambitious guy to move up to the first team -looking to promote a few every season. And that can be tough, especially if you have continuity in the coaching and backroom setup. You’re asking people to damage and even sacrifice personal relationships for the good of the Club and the team. That requires a culture maybe a little more rare in club rugby, but common in really successful sports teams.
The good news for others? Chances to pick up the odd quality Leinster player being moved on who still has a lot to offer -if you can match English and French chequebooks.
An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit
You may also enjoy:
Comments on RugbyPass
Pls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
124 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
124 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
124 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
4 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
124 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
4 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to comments