The Leinster update on Friday's tear-jerking Ryan Baird injury
It was sweetness and light post-game with Leinster on Friday night amid the fuzzy warmth of the battering given to Leicester, but the one hot topic they couldn’t illuminate was the seriousness of the shoulder injury sustained by Ryan Baird, the effervescent 23-year-old who had been in the form of the career.
He had started the Grand Slam clinching win over England and shone again in last weekend’s round-of-16 civil war with Ulster, but his Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final appearance cruelly lasted a mere 22 minutes.
Baird crashed into the breakdown that Andrew Porter had carried to near the Leicester line only to find Tommy Reffell in an immovable penalty-winning position and he brutally fell off the side of the collision zone, tears welling in his eyes as the enormity of the pain in his right shoulder wincingly hit home.
Off he trudged, his jersey rolled up around his arm as a temporary bandage, and the stressful question now is the severity of the damage sustained. Has it prematurely ended his season? Or worse, could it threaten his preparations to make the Ireland Rugby World Cup squad in September?
We don’t know at this early stage and Leo Cullen wasn’t in the mood to do a Dr Google on it when quizzed in the post-mortem on the status of the setback. “It’s his shoulder. We’re not sure exactly, we’ll see how that settles down,” he succinctly said, adding that it wasn’t a reinjury to a problem encountered earlier in the season. “No, different injury. That was more his neck at the time.”
It was only last month when Ireland boss Andy Farrell enthused that Baird would go on “to better and better things”. Injuring your shoulder three weeks later wasn’t what was envisaged and it will be a case of waiting on a squad update from Leinster ahead of Tuesday’s flight to South Africa for a URC double-header before further light can be shed on how Baird is fixed.
Despite the loss of the No6 with the scoreboard at 14-3, Leinster weren’t found wanting and their decisive power surge arrived in the early 10-minute second-half spell when they were reduced to 14 through Caelan Doris’ yellow card.
Rather than getting tested on the back foot defending a 17-10 lead, they flicked the switch and vaulted 27-10 clear by the time Doris returned – and they then galloped on to win 55-24 and set up a home semi-final versus Toulouse or the Sharks. Neat.
“Lots of pleasing things in the game, definitely areas where we can get better. We are delighted to be through to the next round,” enthused Cullen. “The beauty of playing on Friday now is we get to watch the other three games without the stress of having our game. We’re heading to South Africa on Tuesday so we will see how everybody is.
“Definitely it [the Leicester try before half-time] made us quite quiet and made us have a good look at ourselves at half-time, and then Caelan gets binned and we are down to 14 but the response at that stage was really positive. It definitely focused the minds… that 10-minute period of Caelan’s bin and the 10, 15 minutes after that was where the game went away from Leicester.
“We plan for lots of different scenarios, and we dealt with that scenario well which was good. Everyone is clear in terms of what we go to. I thought they were excellent. It’s huge effort over the last couple of weeks, an usual dynamic, 10 weeks to lead into your last-16 game and then you have a six-day lead into this game.
“It takes a huge amount of effort from the players because they are out there delivering but the backroom team and how the managed the group to everybody who is involved in ticketing and promoting the game to the fans that turn up in such great numbers, it’s great. For the guys, it’s a real privilege and honour for us to be here.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Crusaders went all in to buy Hotham and Kemara staight from Hamilton Boys. Then they picked up Reihana and Hohepa; all have been dropped for superstar Havili, who is a very good fullback, that’s it. Ennor and Goodhue were schoolboy stars too but went backwards at the Crusaders. Maybe they have finally decided to give another poach Levi Aumua the ball?
10 Go to commentsJoe S has some talent to pick from. The Reds loosies look the best in Super? Aus might just give Razor a headache this year. Int. experience v Cantab greenhorn:) Should be fun.
10 Go to commentsEnd to end play, “THE FANS” this game was entertainment of the best. The conditions added to the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsSorry to say, but sadly the sadas were just ordinary and havilli at 10 as an abs selection just won’t cut it. He’s better suited in the centre’s and is a victim of past charge down kicks, he’s too slow under pressure. There’s better talent further north and I don’t mean dmac however I believe razor will sort him out. A feature of his presents on the park is the fact that the guys will follow him.
10 Go to commentsMarler was brilliant throughout both in the scrum and open play. His slap made virtually no contact with Ramos who milked it for a penalty when he could have been a decent sportsman and laughed it off, it was non-violent and shouldn't have been penalised. Smith failed repeatedly to kick when necessary and put up a couple of bombs into the TLS 22 that just handed back possession at key moments to the other side.
3 Go to commentsCros was outstanding and rightly awarded France TVs player of the match award. Mallia was brilliant as usual (the y is below the 6 on a UK keyboard and he deserves better than that). Level also seems to have been scored harshly as he walked the ball into touch under pressure from a Lynagh kick from well outside his own half which should never have led to a 50-22. Agree with BullShark that Dupont, while class at times, seemed to go missing for patches in the second half with props, hookers and wings frequently filling in at 9 as he couldn't get off the deck and up to the next ruck on time. A 7 by his standards at best, his kicking was also too long, too often. Kinghorn's overall contribution was worth well more than a five.
3 Go to commentsThe Harlequins team must be in minus figures. Did the reporter actually watch the game?
3 Go to commentsHow on earth did Walker escape a red card? Not dangerous? Dupont has his face in a mask earlier this season. Shocking decision. What is the point of TMOs? We had the Fassi ‘non-penalty try’ yesterday and now this.
2 Go to commentsCould have been a different result but yet again French tv able to affect the result by not showing the very clear high shot on harlequin centre if this would have been on a French player would have been on screen at least five times
3 Go to commentsAmazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
3 Go to commentsI’m sorry. That second half was far from enthralling. It was painful to watch.
2 Go to commentsVery generous! If you’d missed the game, reading this you’d conclude that it was the Quins front row that cost them the game. Marler getting a blanket 6 for his demented contribution to the game. Puzzling.
3 Go to commentsCan’t see Toulouse beating Leinster at this rate.
7 Go to commentsADP was having a very average game until winning that penalty for Toulouse, sticking his big head in the way. “The head of God”?
7 Go to commentsHarlequins doing their best to do as little damage as possible with all the possession. Looks like they skipped catch and pass drills this week.
7 Go to commentsSeeing pictures of Jacques high-fiving it with Irish players breaks my heart. Too soon. I need more time.
1 Go to commentsquins is all over the place. The minute they get the ball they panic. Quins can still win tho just need to win all rucks otherwise just don't bother.
7 Go to commentsGreat wins for the male & female kiwi sides. Ireland not far away..
1 Go to commentsWhy is this dude getting so much coverage? Usually knobs like this get cancelled.
2 Go to commentsWow. What was that? A 3 million word meandering article about what exactly?
2 Go to comments