Saints and Bulls games still fresh in Leinster's minds this week
LEINSTER’S PLAYERS GET a ‘tip sheet’ before each game, with the document including the key themes and messages about the upcoming match.
Generally, these sheets are quickly forgotten about as thoughts rapidly move onto the next fixture, but there are two from last season still on display in Leinster’s team room now.
One is from the Champions Cup semi-final against Northampton at this time last year, when Leinster were beaten by the English side at the Aviva Stadium despite being seen as favourites.
The other one is from the URC final against the Bulls of South Africa at Croke Park a few weeks later, when Leinster delivered a physical and accurate performance to claim silverware.
“The Northampton one is a reminder of the hurt, the Bulls of when we got it right that day and performed to a good level,” says Leinster wing Tommy O’Brien.
“They’re reminders, not just of our pain but of what it can feel like when we get it right.”
Leinster continue to chase more performances like that one against the Bulls, with their hope being that they can produce something similar tomorrow against Toulon in their latest Champions Cup semi-final.
This season has involved up-and-down displays from Leinster, particularly in the URC. They have also found themselves in some tight battles in the Champions Cup, but have won all of their games so far.
“It’s probably been the theme of our season, to be honest, like compared to previous years in the regular season, we might have put decent scores on teams and not be in a lot of tight games,” says O’Brien.
“So it’s something we’ve actually talked about as being in so many tight games throughout the year actually might stand to us at this tail end of the season.
O'Brien in action for Leinster. Dan Clohessy / INPHO
Dan Clohessy / INPHO / INPHO
“That might have been a criticism of Leinster before, that you walk through the regular season and then you get to the end of the season and you’re under pressure that you haven’t felt throughout the season.”
O’Brien quickly pinpoints the common theme in those games where Leinster have had to eke out victories this season, even if they’re not pretty. He says captain Caelan Doris has set the tone well.
“I think we talk a lot about composure,” says O’Brien.
“Caelan is an unbelievably good leader. He’s unbelievably calm as well. He’s not a big ‘ra-ra’ guy, but he’s good with his messaging, staying calm, on task.
“That’s something that any time we’re under the pump, people are not panicking, people are focused on our next job, how we’re going to do it. The messaging has been really good from Caelan, throughout the whole team and it filters through.
“It focuses on doing your job, rather than being overwhelmed by the occasion or your surroundings or anything.”
Tomorrow will be Toulon’s first Champions Cup semi-final since they beat Leinster in dramatic fashion in 2015 before claiming the last of their three consecutive trophies in the competition.
But even though it has been a while since the French side have been at the top table, O’Brien says this fixture brings excitement.
“They’ve got some serious star power, some serious names, like Toulon is obviously huge in this competition.
“Some French clubs maybe prefer the Top 14, whereas we know Toulon absolutely love this competition. So they’ve given it their all and their fans travel unbelievably as well.
“So we’d hope that maybe this Saturday can be a serious atmosphere, a serious game, and exactly what Champions Cup and European rugby is like.”
Leinster were beaten by Benetton last weekend. Roberto Bregani / INPHO
Roberto Bregani / INPHO / INPHO
Leinster’s final tune-up last weekend against Benetton wasn’t ideal as they lost with the clock in the red in Italy. It was a tight battle that got away from them.
But O’Brien says Leinster quickly turned the focus to the job at hand against Toulon.
“We talked about it not being a season-defining loss, that we go and do a job this week and go on and hopefully win a final, then people don’t remember that Treviso game,” says O’Brien.
“So it’s about taking the lessons from the game. There’s probably going to be a few similarities in how Treviso play and how Toulon play, there are probably a couple of players that have gone between both, [Ignacio] Brex and [Tomas] Albonoz.
“So just taking the lessons and how they managed to stifle us and then be better this week and turn the page, because it’s a huge week for the club.”
