South African URC sides indebted to La Rochelle after Champions Cup final
South African teams will have learnt a lot from watching French powerhouse La Rochelle beat Leinster in an epic European Champions’ Cup final on Saturday, not the least that the Vodacom United Rugby Championship favourites are not invincible.
La Rochelle’s win will have stunned Leinster’s faithful, and much of European rugby, but it also opened a door to other teams to know that while Leinster are incredibly strong, there are cracks that can be exploited.
Firstly, the one thing all teams know is clear is that to get to the URC title you will have to beat Leinster at some point. Four time consecutive PRO14 champions and overall log leaders in the first edition of URC make them clear favourites.
But what La Rochelle showed on Saturday is that Leinster, for all their success and impressive systems throughout, are not unbeatable.
South African coaches in particular will have taken notice of that, and not least Danny Wilson from Glasgow Warriors, whose side will face Leinster in Saturday’s quarterfinal.
The Warriors will – like all other teams in the competition – be wary of a Leinster backlash, but they will also take note of how La Rochelle outscored Leinster three tries to nil, were dominant in the setpieces and made the side with the fastest ruck reload in the competition look as if they were slow off the mark at times.
The La Rochelle blueprint for victory may have come through courage and determination, but it showed a bunch of teams in the URC that Leinster can be beaten, if you can muster the will and determination to play the right game against them.
That may be easier said than done and there is no doubt that Leinster are hurting in coming so close to claiming a fifth European star but failing near the end.
And just how much hurt will be turned into emotion this weekend against Glasgow waits to be seen, and just how much of a backlash there is will also be determined.
Leinster will want now, more than ever, to claim the inaugural URC trophy and will know that, by finishing top of the log, they will play at home in their famed Aviva Stadium where they are very, very hard to beat on any given day.
And the fact that Ronan O’Gara – a former Munster and Ireland legend – ruined their dream of that fifth star and now boasts two wins against them (La Rochelle beat Leinster in the semifinal last year), will make it even more hurtful when they regather this week to shift their attention to the URC.
Their coach Leo Cullen described the loss as “sickening” and it is clear the hurt will be channelled into their preparations this coming week.
“It has not really hit home,” said Cullen after the game. “We are licking our wounds. It came down to fine margins and a couple of defensive sets.
“But there is probably a story before that as well in how we got into that situation.
“In the last 15 minutes we could have been better. It is a sickener, but credit to La Rochelle.”
Cullen will know that he has used 60 players this season for Leinster and has used them well. But it will be the loss of impact from the bench that will have hit the hardest. There will be a moment where he wonders if a more battle-hardened side that could have toured South Africa may have been more equipped for the French team they faced?
Either way these questions will linger, especially in a game of fine margins.
“You can’t fault the effort. There are bits in the game that we don’t quite execute at stages. Different parts of our game that puts us under undue pressure, but that’s what you’re expecting with this kind of game anyway, it’s high stakes and high pressure against a French team, away in France,” Cullen said.
“We’d love to have a crack at it again, but you don’t get a second chance in finals, do you?,” he added.
The same goes for playoff matches. The South African teams know this is as real as it gets and there are no second chances.
They also know that if a side like Leinster struggles in Europe after dominating the URC, they will need to up their game significantly before entering Europe next season.
And they will know that whoever gets through this weekend’s playoffs will need to face Leinster at some point.
And like La Rochelle find a way of making Leinster look ordinary. That will be no easy task.
But as the French side showed, it can be done.
Credit: URCSA
Comments on RugbyPass
Havili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
61 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to comments