JOE caught up with former Ireland International Donal Lenihan to canvass his opinions on the outcomes of the Heineken Cup quarter-finals and to look ahead to the semi-finals.
JOE: What a great weekend of rugby last time out in the Heineken Cup Quarter-Finals and we can claim two Irish sides heading into the semi-finals full of confidence…
DL: Yeah it’s fantastic. We were guaranteed one Irish team in a semi-final – to get two is great.
Especially when you look at what happened with the disappointment of the Irish international team in Twickenham a few weeks ago – wouldn’t it be great to have two Irish teams, Leinster and Ulster in a Heineken Cup final in Twickenham?
JOE: Both sides could be considered to be the in-form sides in Europe, especially with Ulster going to Thomond Park and winning?
DL: I mean when you look back, Ulster have had some fantastic results all season.
You go back to that magnificent win over Leicester Tigers in Ravenhill where they just blew them away; I mean we all know Leicester aren’t the force they once were, but Leicester against any opposition don’t usually leak that amount of tries or points against anyone.
Funnily enough, I think one of the most impressive performances of Ulster was their defeat away against Clermont Auvernge.
They were in that game right until the end and they could have won it and I think, even though they lost, that gave them the belief that they could go to Thomond Park and beat Munster and right from the start they imposed themselves.
Munster were disappointing in the physical contact area, but Ulster deserved the win.
JOE: Obviously Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin is gone at the season and they’re bringing in Mark Anscombe to bring them to a new level that McLaughlin has already arguably brought them to… the result at the weekend begs the question is that a mistake?
DL: Yeah it’s a strange one there’s no doubt about that.
Ulster hadn’t been in a Heineken Cup quarter final since 1999, they have now been in two in a row and a semi-final – I think he’s done a fantastic job.
It could be a little embarrassing if they win the Heineken Cup and then dismiss their coach.
McLaughlin’s always been great specialist coach. When he was with Ireland his area of expertise was the breakdown and the contact area and you could see that in play against Munster.
I know he’s still going to be involved with their academy, but I think he’ll be a loss in that specific area.
It’s a strange one and I don’t know much about Anscombe, but then again we didn’t know much about Joe Schmidt, so we’ll have to wait and see.
It could be a little embarrassing if they win the Heineken Cup and then dismiss their coach.
JOE: There are two Irish coaches in the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup with Michael Bradley and Edinburgh winning a fantastic match against Toulouse too.
Alan Quinlan was talking about Irish coaches last week, saying that the Irish provinces may be reluctant to appoint them despite the success of Irish coaches abroad. Do you think we should be a little more confident in that regard?
DL: Well I think that has happened. I mean Michael Bradley was coach of Connacht for seven years and Mark McCall was at Ulster for two or three years. So you could say they have a coaching foundation in provincial rugby.
I have no problem with Irish coaches going abroad to get a greater experience and sample what’s happening overseas. I think McCall and Bradley have done that and will come back to coach here at some point in the future.
JOE: So you would see it as Irish coaches wanting to get a greater experience, rather than a reluctance to appoint Irish coaches to our own provinces?
DL: Absolutely.
The difficulty is there are only five jobs in Ireland, the four provinces and the national team. So it’s very difficult for younger players to get a break – a lot of them are specialist coaches and then it’s difficult to work your way up to be a head coach.
JOE: Speaking of changes in head coaches, the rebuilding process will now begin for Munster and we believe the shortlist has been made. You wouldn’t consider throwing your hat into the ring and doing a ‘Kenny Daglish’ on it?
DL: No, no, no – I don’t they are that badly stuck!
It will be interesting to see who gets it. The reality is though the transition has already begun.
Munster were so successful for so long, it was inevitable the end would come at some stage, but I don’t think people have realized the change that has already happened in a short space of time!
There are only five players who started against Ulster last weekend that played against Toulon in the pool stage of the competition last year. That’s incredible change in the space of twelve months.
The Leinster versus Clermont game will be incredibly tight, but I think the bigger the challenge Leinster face – the better they play.
JOE: Given that there are so many young players in the side as you say and Tomás O’Leary is going at the end of the season, was it a mistake to send a player of the experience of Peter Stringer to Newcastle for the year given the advice he could have given to the younger players?
DL: Well I think he has brought those young players through already, he was fourteen seasons with Munster and he was instrumental in bringing through O’Leary… it cost him his place in 2002. He also helped Conor Murray in the academy.
I think he just got frustrated with his lack of game time and like the Irish coaches we mentioned earlier just wanted some new experience with Newcastle.
I think he will comeback to Munster rejuvenated now.
JOE: Finally and most importantly who do you think will win the Heineken Cup of the four teams left?
DL: I think Ulster have what it takes to get to the final.
The Leinster versus Clermont game will be incredibly tight, but I think the bigger the challenge Leinster face – the better they play.
It’s a huge ask for Leinster going to Bordeaux, but I think they might do it.
So hopefully we’ll have an all-Irish final and if Leinster beat Clermont I think they will be the first team to win back-to-back Heineken Cups for the first time since 2002.
They only had two weeks to prepare for the quarter final and to produce the type of performance they did against Cardiff… I think they’ll just get better and better.
So my pick is Leinster.
‘Check out ‘The Legends Blog,’ Donal Lenihan’s Heineken Cup preview and review of each Heineken Cup round, on http://www.heineken.ie/heinekencup/blog/.’
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