‘I would give it to Leinster now’ – Ireland great claims the Champions Cup is already done and dusted

Former Ireland star Geordan Murphy believes that they may as well hand Leinster the Investec Champions Cup trophy now following their recent knockout stage demolitions.

The Irish province have been in imperious form throughout this campaign but stepped it up a level in back-to-back European ties.

Leo Cullen’s men thrashed Harlequins 62-0 at Croke Park before following that up with a 52-0 Aviva Stadium hammering of Glasgow Warriors, keeping both opponents scoreless in the process.

Leinster next face Northampton Saints in the semi-finals, a repeat of the 2023/24 last-four contest which the Irish outfit narrowly won 20-17.

However, Northampton have struggled in the Premiership this year after losing some key players such as Courtney Lawes and Lewis Ludlam.

‘Unstoppable’ Leinster

“I don’t see them being beaten this year. I think they win it from here, I would give it to them now,” Murphy said on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast.

“That maybe being a little bit short-sighted in that they have got a huge game against Northampton, who will be confident from their last outing.

“But Northampton do not have the firepower compared to RG Snyman and [Jordie] Barrett. They have added another layer of physicality [to Leinster], which is kind of where Northampton have  dropped off a bit.”

Should Leinster get through that semi-final tie then either Bordeaux-Begles or defending champions Toulouse await and Murphy has backed them to get past whoever prevails in that Champions Cup semi-final.

“They will win that semi-final and then you go into that final in Cardiff against Toulouse or Bordeaux-Begles. They just look unstoppable this year,” he said.

“You look at all of Leinster’s plays, you look at their crisp three-man pods, it’s all crisp, it’s all sharp – Tommy O’Brien’s try was ridiculous.

“The skill set… on a dry day I just don’t see many teams having the same skill set. Toulouse are probably the only team that can live with them but I don’t think they’re the same without [Antoine] Dupont.”

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Murphy, who played his club rugby for Leicester Tigers, says there is no pressure on the Saints and that they can look at it as a free shot.

With Northampton also containing most of the current England backline, they could therefore be dangerous, but the 46-year-old reckons that Leinster’s physicality in contact will be too much for the Premiership outfit.

‘Nothing to lose’

“They will go to Dublin, have nothing to lose, that will be Northampton’s mindset. It will be, ‘look, we have been here before, we were within one score as we stayed in it. Everyone expects Leinster to win, nobody expects anything of us’,” Murphy said.

“If they are solid defensively, can start with a huge intensity and just hang in there. They have to be creative, play with smiles on faces.

“You want to see Fin Smith with a smile on his face, [Tommy] Freeman with a smile on his face, [Alex] Mitchell getting out and creating opportunities later in the game.

“They will have to physically front-up early in the game in that first 20-minute block. You can’t let Leinster score 10 points, which they will be looking to do.”

He added: “They will be up for it and have a chance on the back of that, but I don’t mean to be disrespectful to Northampton by saying that I fully expect Leinster to win.

“I think 95 times out of 100 Leinster win that game. There are obviously outlying occasions that Northampton win it on, but what Leinster have is that physicality up front.

“We are talking about Snyman being such a fantastic ball carrier, you’ve got [Joe] McCarthy beside him. You have got a back-row with Caelan Doris on the bench. You’ve got [Jack] Conan, you’ve got [Max] Deegan, [Josh] van der Flier, [Dan] Sheehan.”

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