Romance, momentum and belief lie firmly in one camp today
Against the dazzling backdrop of a lavender Glasgow sky, Stuart Hogg and his family bade farewell to Scotstoun, Ulster vanquished and the chance to leave his only professional club a champion beckoning.
The Hoggs strolled around the paddock on Friday night last week long after the final whistle had blown, drinking in every last drop of the joy and gratitude cascading down upon them from the stands.
The full-back began life as a professional player here, became Scottish rugby’s hottest young talent here, grew arrogant and big-headed here and almost left in a huff, sorted his attitude out and won a title, earned 67 caps and toured twice with the Lions here, became a leader and a father and cemented his place in Scotland’s pantheon of rugby giants here, won a move to one of Europe’s biggest beasts in Exeter Chiefs here.
The PRO14 semi-final shellacking of Ulster was a thunderous Scotstoun goodbye, but Hogg is desperate to ensure it was only a dress rehearsal. On Saturday, he will bow out as a Warrior in front of over 43,000 people inside Glasgow’s Celtic Park, the city’s biggest stadium, when Dave Rennie’s men take on defending champions Leinster in the league showpiece.
The final will be a colossal day for Glasgow rugby, an evening that will long be treasured and talked about if Warriors do the business on their own patch.
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Rennie has had to “put the brakes” on Hogg this week in training to stop him “going berserk”. There’s an almost palpable yearning about Glasgow to seize what’s in front of them. Since being physically battered by Saracens and verbally savaged by Rennie in late March, they have won four in a row, scoring at least 30 points in each, and are unbeaten in nine in the league.
Leinster are seasoned combatants and serial victors in the warfare of finals rugby, but the lead-up to Saturday has been troubling. Rob Kearney and the full-back’s apparently unacceptable contract offer. Leo Cullen, the coach, putting out his fishing rod and suggesting Celtic fans should come and support his team since the Warriors dressing room is full of Rangers men.
People like to be offended these days, but stoking football rivalries and all the religious tumult that goes along with them in Glasgow was always going to rankle.
"Nonsense": Celtic legend Jim Craig gives Leo Cullen short shrift – The Offside Line https://t.co/uuDceI1S7n
— UK Sports News Bot (@UKNewsBot1) May 21, 2019
Would Cullen have encouraged Celtic fans to back his team had Ulster made the final? Would he have roused nationalists in Northern Ireland to support Leinster had the showpiece been in Belfast? Were these the canny barbs of a man who has been here a million times before or the distraction tactics of a coach anxious about what is coming down the tracks?
Cullen apologised after naming his side on Friday and the whole business looks like a storm in a teacup now. The big former lock has a mountain of finals experience. He is the only man to win the Champions Cup as a player and a coach. His team have almost all of the big-match pedigree and almost all of the medals.
In their match-day 23, there are a dozen Grand Slam winners and five Lions. All of them were at the province last season when Leinster won a monumental PRO14 and Champions Cup double. They have reached the finals of both competitions this year, albeit Saracens had the beating of them in the European showpiece.
'Some guys have played a long time and never won anything. It’s such an amazing feeling and you get addicted to it'
– @DTHVDM tells @JLyall93 what effect winning @PRO14Official with @GlasgowWarriors could have if they beat @leinsterrugby on Saturday ?? https://t.co/LEoJu4odso— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 23, 2019
In Glasgow’s squad, there are no Test champions. Ten were part of the 2015 PRO12 title-winning lot but only DTH van der Merwe and Callum Gibbins have won any other major club silverware. This is new territory for Adam Hastings, Kyle Steyn and Scott Cummings and a host of others, but it is also a precious opportunity.
A year ago, a full-strength Leinster looked untouchable. Saracens, Exeter, Montpellier, Glasgow, Munster, Scarlets and Racing 92 all fell as Cullen and his men rumbled to their wonderful twosome.
Glasgow bore the brunt of that surge. In the pool stage of the Champions Cup, they copped two brutal beatings, matches that seemed to expose the flaws in their play. Leinster kept the ball so ably and Glasgow were so wasteful, so eager to get it moving wide before first driving it forward. Leinster circled like sharks, happily spooling through a mountain of seemingly benign phases before striking without mercy.
? #GUINNESSPRO14 final preview @GlasgowWarriors ? @leinsterrugby
?? Who's playing
? Who's in form
? Where to watch
?? Click here to read more about this season's finale at Celtic Park ?https://t.co/DRXxw5MaM4— PRO14 RUGBY (@PRO14Official) May 24, 2019
In a typically fascinating piece of statistical analysis, Glasgow fan Kevin Millar has run the numbers on the finalists’ attacks this season. Leinster are the PRO14’s most efficient team when it comes to retaining ball, but on average go through 40 per cent more rucks than Glasgow to make a line break. Their opponents make an average of 220 tackles per game, while Warriors’ opposition make 185.
Leinster’s ruthlessness remains, but Glasgow’s brawn has grown. In beating them in Dublin last month, Warriors’ tackle stats were astronomical. Seven of the starting pack made over 20. The other, Chris Fusaro, was injured early on and his replacement, Adam Ashe, made 26. The front row put in 77 between them. Matt Fagerson made 33 and Jonny Gray felled a ridiculous 43 Leinstermen without missing a single tackle.
Glasgow’s total was 302 made and 29 missed. They had 35 per cent possession and 43 per cent territory.
All those tackles and still Leinster scored four tries; still Glasgow had to bring their best stuff with the ball to win at the RDS for the first time since 2011. This was a different Warriors to the scintillating but flaky lot of last season.
Your team sheets for the #GuinnessPRO14 Final brought to you by @thetimesIE @GlasgowWarriors v @leinsterrugby
KO 18.30 #PRO14Proud #TheFinalCountdown pic.twitter.com/CAKejb6YFE
— PRO14 RUGBY (@PRO14Official) May 24, 2019
They did it again to Edinburgh, a team who have taken great joy in roughing up their rivals from the west, in the 1872 Cup and their 50-20 demolition of Ulster was near-perfect. Snarling, direct forward play, an immense physical dominance, wonderful attacking fare and clinical finishing.
A battering and a bamboozling all at once. Only late slips with the game won and minds wandering allowed Ulster to salvage a modicum of pride. Matt Fagerson got man of the match but it could have gone to almost any man in black and blue.
Glasgow will have to be every bit as ferocious without possession and as fabulous with it on Saturday as they were in Dublin last month and at Scotstoun a week ago. This is finals rugby now. Leinster will be better and their totem, Johnny Sexton, an absentee last time, will be in the saddle at Parkhead.
Leinster have the experience, but Glasgow have the momentum. Leinster will be playing their third game and second final in 14 days, Glasgow just their second match in 28. Leinster have Sexton, Glasgow have Hogg. Cullen has won the league and Champions Cup as a coach, Rennie has two Super Rugby titles.
The final is in Glasgow, but Leinster will bring swarms of travelling fans. The province yearn to show they are still kings of the competition. Glasgow believe – truly believe – that this is their day.
WATCH: RugbyPass goes behind the scenes at the 2018 PRO14 final between Leinster and Scarlets in Dublin
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
6 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
44 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
6 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
44 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
44 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?
35 Go to commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
4 Go to commentsBut here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.
44 Go to commentsIt could be coincidental or prescient that the All Blacks most dominant period under Steve Hansen was when the Crusaders had their least successful period under Todd Blackadder and then the positions reversed when Razor took over the Crusaders.
44 Go to commentsDefinitely sound read everybodyexpects immediate results these days, I don't think any team would travel well at all having lost three of the most important game changers in the game,compiled with the massive injury list they are now carrying, good to see a different more in depth perspective of a coaches history.
3 Go to comments