Loose Pass: Where do Leinster go from here after unwanted four-peat and British & Irish Lions ‘fanfare’ backfires
Loose Pass on Leinster and Thursday's British & Irish Lions squad announcement.
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the latest Leinster collapse, the British and Irish Lions squad and a law quirk…
So what is four times?
You’d be forgiven for wondering what phrase Oscar Wilde himself would have coined to describe Leinster‘s four-peat of missing out on European glory. The original quote of losing one being misfortune and losing two looking like carelessness was written about losing parents, so he probably never thought about it. Even Ian Fleming, several decades later, only had his villainous character Auric Goldfinger describing three repeated events of the same magnitude. Four times? Perhaps we’re just back to coincidence or misfortune again?
It’s quite hard to remember a team that has been so overwhelmingly favourited for so many editions of the same tournament not quite getting over the finish line. Clermont Auvergne famously lost three Top 14 finals in a row from 2007 to 2009 before breaking that duck in 2010; the club in various guises had been runners-up 10 times in all before that night in Paris in 2010. The subsequent generation of Clermont players lost three European finals in a row between 2013 and 2017 as well. Yet they were certainly not overwhelming favourites in the same way Leinster were on Saturday.
It’s going to be extremely interesting to see where it all goes from here. The calls for the head of Leo Cullen have been loud and clear in the aftermath, yet it’s difficult to see how it was different to the other disappointments. Northampton played well above their usual level, specified a strategy and simply rose to the challenge of being better than Leinster on the day, as did La Rochelle for two years in finals. Toulouse could rightly lay claim to being a better team last year, full stop. Even domestically, where anti-climax has dogged the team since the last piece of silverware in 2021, it’s generally been an inspired opponent downing Leinster rather than Leinster playing beneath themselves – not to mention once or twice some ill-judged pieces of squad rotation by the management. But that’s never been the problem in Europe.
No, more than just looking at the coaching team, it will be about what happens to the squad. Rieko Ioane is on his way next year to replace Jordie Barrett, but there are positions all over this team where longevity and succession need looking at, most of them in the backs, most of them evoking the same sort of debate now raging about Sam Prendergast: who steps into the void left by x – can anyone?
Many of the current Leinster squad will be on the coming British and Irish Lions tour, meaning the start of Leinster’s season next time out will be compromised, while some players will end up being ‘on campaign’ for more than 12 consecutive months. It’s hard to see the squad being managed so well that it stays injury and fatigue free enough to cope with the Bordeauxs and Toulouses in Europe next season.
The lack of European focus could quite possibly help Leinster to the United Rugby Championship this season. Yet even there, Munster lurk as possible quarter-final opponents, with past nemesis the Bulls perhaps heading to Dublin in the semis. Doubts and ghosts past are everywhere.
But in terms of Europe, this is most likely the end of the road for this version of a team that has delivered some mesmerising and unplayably good rugby down the years, but just can’t seem to get over the finish line.
Too much fanfare
Loose Pass noted with a smirking sense of schadenfreude the lack of enthusiasm on the part of thousands of punters to part with several crisp banknotes for the privilege of attending the Lions squad announcement this Thursday.
Not that the squad announcement is not interesting, but a whole ‘unveiling’ party? A whole arena booked out to basically read out a list of names and then talk media-friendly soundbites for hours about dreams come true and the likely strength of the opposition? Wouldn’t you rather spend that cash in the pub and have a more robust debate?
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If nothing else, the weekend’s magnificent action reminded us that there are four more weeks of domestic bliss to go before the Lions even get together, with the unfortunate Caelan Doris injury also reminding us that whatever happens on Thursday can be instantly rendered irrelevant by the pop of a ligament or crunch of a joint. So before we go all fanfare on it all, wouldn’t it be better to see how the actual season pans out first?
Did you know?
There’s been a few law discussions in Loose Pass down the years, the success of which has led to our esteemed Editor now devoting entire articles to them, such as Jared Wright’s excellent review of Ross Byrne’s non-try at the death on Saturday.
Others are not so pivotal, yet nonetheless interesting when they happen. On Sunday, Bordeaux’s rampaging Pete Samu took a pass, but didn’t quite get it to nestle in his big paws. He juggled it once, twice and then, realising the danger, flicked it back to a supporting player.
Yet he was whistled for a knock-on, with referee Andrew Brace explaining: “you never had it under control.”
Initially, Loose Pass was perplexed: after all, mustn’t the ball hit the ground or another player for the ball to have been knocked on?
Not necessarily, but the relevant law is opaque, while the defining law is written ambiguously. The knock forward (knock-on is so last year) is defined thus: “When a player loses possession of the ball and it goes forward, or when a player hits the ball forward with the hand or arm, or when the ball hits the hand or arm and goes forward, and the ball touches the ground or another player before the original player can catch it.”
Meanwhile, Samu’s actions are ruled out as a deliberate knock-on thus: “It is not an intentional knock forward if, in the act of trying to catch the ball, the player knocks on provided that there was a reasonable expectation that the player could gain possession.”
So in isolation, Samu has knocked on according to the part of the sentence in the law, but not deliberately. But, like the act of scoring a try, nowhere does it talk about control. Moreover, although he didn’t ever catch it, Samu did play the ball in a controlled manner. Does that not count as catching it or playing it correctly?
And that’s as far as Loose Pass has got with it. But if there are any – vastly superior – referees or officials or supervisors out there who can shed a light on this one, we’d be very grateful!
READ MORE: Exclusive: Caelan Doris’ injury throws Willis into British and Irish Lions selection frame