Malcolm O’Kelly’s Heineken Cup rugby column

With the Heineken Cup underway, former Ireland and Leinster star Malcolm O’Kelly shares his views in a new column for JOE.ie.

 

I’ve been away from the Leinster squad since May but when it comes to the big Heineken Cup matches you do miss the occasion, the atmosphere of the big day. But I’ve had such a long career. I know what it’s like, the good and the bad, and there is a lot of hardship as well, so there’s only a part of me that misses it.

I won’t lie, I thought it would be hard to watch, but I’ve been getting a lot of enjoyment out of it and already I’ve surprised myself how passionate I am when I’m watching it – there can be a fair bit of effing and blinding, especially toward the refs!

I watched Leinster’s game against Racing Metro on Saturday and I enjoyed analysing it.  When I was playing, I wouldn’t be overly concerned with analysing the game in great depth. I’d just glance at my own moments. Whether we won or lost we had to forget about the last game and move on to the next game. But now looking at the game from a distant armchair I found myself enthralled making judgments on key moments or how certain players and units performed and how the opposition fared.

Over the last few weeks a lot of people have been coming up to me, saying ‘Jesus, Mal, the season could be over by Christmas.’ The supporters were panicking. They’re hoping for success and they were worried that with a new backroom team maybe the good times were over. It’s an old truth that you can’t win the Heineken Cup in the first game but you can lose it, and certainly if they had lost at home in the first match, in the so-called Pool of Death, then it would have been as good as lost. So there was a lot of pressure, but they stood up and dealt with it like the great team they are. They out worked the opposition each player stood up and was counted and their desire to play open rugby was plain to see.

From the first minute of the game, when Chabal smashed into Jamie Heaslip, you could tell that the intensity was up. After that, every time Chabal got the ball he was absolutely hammered, especially from Isa Nacewa (main picture). In fact, it actually looked like it may have been a ploy from Leinster. There were several times when Jonny Sexton kicked the ball long in the direction of Chabal, every time without fail he would tuck the ball under the arm and go full steam ahead into the blue defensive line that swallowed him up, getting turned over on occasion.

Quick-thinking Leinster

The first try really epitomised what Leinster were about. It was a kick-off that dropped short. Seanie O’Brien could have just left it, and taken the scrum; it would have been perfectly within his rights. Instead, he took a great field and carried it on, and none of their players had reacted. There was good interlinking and offloads, great lines run involving both forwards and backs finding soft shoulders. Finally Gordon D’arcy broke the line, a series of offloads led to Mike Ross rumbling just short and it was Seanie O’Brien who was on hand to drop over the line for the try.

That was a measure of Leinster all afternoon. They were taking chances, asking questions of the opposition throughout the game. They were dominant at the set pieces, especially at the kick-offs, time and time again Leinster would regain valuable possession. The forwards worked hard and offered themselves well to their scrum-half, taking ball on and finding good hard yards. The third try was a good example of their lack of inhibition Sexton could have kicked to within ten yards of the line, taken the line-out and hope to maul over, but instead he took a quick tap when Racing’s backs were turned and it paid off for Strauss’s try this was a key moment keeping any chance of a recovery at bay.

Seanie O’Brien has added an ability to command the skies at the kick-off. He might be one of the younger players on the team but Seanie’s a real leader.

Racing showed their lack of experience of Heineken Cup rugby. They are a big physical team but looked sluggish as a whole, maybe surprised by the increase in pace. They seemed incapable of slowing the Leinster possession down at ruck time and gave up the gain line too often. Too many times their attack faltered with handling errors letting Leinster off the hook

For me Leinster’s backrow unit were crucial. All three were at the heart of everything I was really impressed with Seanie O’Brien. He has added an ability to command the skies at the kick-off, no mean feat. He might be one of the younger players on the team but Seanie’s a real leader. He’s a good man to tell people what to do. There were even times over the last couple of years where he’d tell me how to jump in the line-out. It’s great to see him getting a run of form now. He’s taken a few blows with injury over the last year or two but he’s certainly good enough and capable enough to go to the next level

‘The lads had to deliver’

For Leinster as a whole, it hadn’t been a good start to the season but without making excuses, it was a difficult schedule, especially with a few key injuries and a new coaching set-up trying to find its feet. It has been a time of transition at Leinster and that’s always difficult. Michael Cheika had done a huge amount to create a set-up there and when he left there could have been a void that was very hard to fill, but from talking to the lads there has been a fresh impetus since pre-season with an emphasis on skills and all are enjoying the new direction. For whatever reasons the losses happened but it’s not easy when you have to play away games in Glasgow and Edinburgh in the first couple of weeks. I know Joe [Schmidt] has said that what’s required is for players to take responsibility for their performances. The lads had to deliver a performance against Munster last week. They did that, and they took it up another level against Racing, so hopefully they’ll be able to keep up this level as a benchmark

I think Racing were missing a preciseness in what they were doing.  Playing away you will only get a limited amount of chances that you have to take if you are to be competitive. They tried to bully Leinster off the park by being more physical but showed little in attack to break Leinster down. Saracens next weekend will be a different story. I was coached by Brendan Venter years ago, he is passionate but also would demand a high skill level. He’s a professor of the game, he will prepare his team to stop Leinster playing and to attack frailties in Leinster’s Defence.

Away games against Premiership sides are very hard and as Munster showed on Saturday, sometimes you’re just happy with a losing bonus point. The structure of the competition makes bonus points very important. They add spice to the whole thing but it doesn’t change the mentality of the player when he goes out on the pitch. Teams will never go into a game like that thinking of a losing bonus point.  All the Leinster players will be going out to win. Maybe after 70 or 75 minutes, depending on the match situation, it could be the case that a losing bonus point is on offer and they’ll change their goals at that point.

Typical Munster

That’s effectively what happened with Munster against London Irish. They were 20-6 down to London Irish at one stage but they dug it out and got a bonus point which could be very important in the long run. David Wallace’s run before Sam Tuitupou’s try was a remarkable piece of rugby. Typical Munster. They look like they’re gone but the Heineken Cup is all about gathering points wherever the hell you can get them and Munster are the masters at doing that.

It’ll help their confidence too because London Irish are a top side. We played them last year in Twickenham, and they’re even stronger in Reading. They’re able to close things up so well, especially in defence, and it would have been very difficult for Munster to put phases together.

Elsewhere, Ulster did what was to be expected with a four-try bonus point win over Aironi on Friday night, but Connacht will be disappointed with the outcome of their Challenge Cup game in Italy. They’ve made a lot of progress over the last couple of years but they face a big task now if they’re to go close to repeating the achievements of last year.

A legend moves on

I couldn’t finish off my first column without saying a few words about Moss Keane. My first encounter with Mossy was at my local rugby club I was 11. I was due to receive an award for performance and he was the guest of honour. When I was introduced to him he grabbed me by the ears and thrust me into the air like I was a toddler. I’ll never forget the encounter and its effect on me. He was a legend of the game both on and off pitch.

 

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