Great teams often have one definable quality. For Leicester it was their pack orientated street smarts, epitomised by Neil Back's "you do what you have to do to win for Leicester" speech after cynically knocking the ball from Peter Stringer's grasp. For Toulouse it is their TV screen passing and hands on hips flair of their back play, where they can shoehorn Poitrenaud in at 12 to add to arguably the most adventurous back 3 ever assembled. (Although what makes them even better is that they can combine that with a pack that is ferocious at the set piece) Munster was defined by the indefinable, the X factor of Thomond Park making men into giants.
Leinster is fighting to win two trophies, a feat only achieved by Martin Johnson's Leicester team who did it twice and in consecutive years. Leinster's definable quality appears to be their versatility, for lack of a better word. One minute they're offloading up the field, backs and forwards alike, from Cian Healy to Isa Nacewa. Moments later the same two players might be making shuddering hits (Nacewa flipping Chabal) or slowing down opposition ball.
Leinster adapt to what the oppostion is showing them. When a team wants to play fast and loose like Racing Metro, Sexton moves the backline with fast paced hands and one of those perfect loop moves that are almost indefensible. When Leicester took them on up front Leinster Heaslip and O'Brien became first receivers and pummelled the Leicester rearguard. And when a team shows a little of both like Toulouse did, Leinster turned in a perfect mishmash of heads up rugby and gritty forward play, slowing down Toulouse's ball and countering through Nacewa.
In Chris Ashton and Ben Foden, Northampton has two of the best counter attackers around. Unfortunately for them Leinster have the best. Isa Nacewa creates so many opportunities on the counter that it's a shame that a below par Luke Fitzgerald can't capitalise on more of them. Fergus Mcfadden doesn't have the flash of Fitzgerald but he is playing great rugby. He is pacy and has an excellently understated sidestep that is short, sweet and efficient. Fitzgerald's performances this season has created trust issues in our relationship.
Good players earn your trust. They build it up over time. We trust Wilkinson to sink a drop goal like we trust O'Driscoll to make those extra yards for the tryline. This season's trust scale has been sliding with Mcfadden going one-way and Fitzgerald another. Mcfadden is the dependable and effective worker who always shows up on time. Fitzgerald is the really talented guy who comes in late and whose increasing number of mistakes is overshadowing his huge talent. I know the person I'd rather depend on in a big moment.
Mcfadden is also a part time goal kicker, which hopefully eradicates the "Paddy Wallace should go to the World Cup as a centre/outhalf argument. I don't think there is a player in Ireland that can be trusted less in a big moment than Wallace. He is like the man in "The Simpsons who leaps out the window screaming at town meetings at the slightest hint of panic. His decision making under pressure is almost as bad as a drunk driver, and two terrible mistakes in Cardiff should be enough to ensure there is no chance of a third.
At the start I said that Munster was defined by their Thomond Park performances. I had to use the past tense after the Harlequins game. Personally I think that it was a blip at the Limerick fortress but the manner of the loss was so damning it had to shock and worry Munster in equal measure. The Aviva Premiership is of a lower standard to the Magners. I, and most Irish rugby fans believe this to be fact. We enjoy nothing more than to ridicule Dewi Morris and Will Greenwood for blowing smoke up the arses of mediocre English teams, and for the most part that is all they do.
BUT the first 30 minutes of Quins Munster was one of the most dominant performances I've ever seen. It eclipsed Munster's trouncing of Leinster in 06 and Leinster's reversal in 09. Only the first 30 minutes though. In possession Quins played the ball into space, ran hard lines in the centre and freed their arms in the tackle more often than not. Without the ball, which they weren't for very long, they won the space over the ball and with it the ball.
The days of groundhog flankers are being replaced with the bulky David Wallace style guys who drive the opposition of the ball rather than trying to sneak it out. Quins had 70% possession for the first half and could have been far more comfortable than they were.
They made Munster look slow, old and devoid of ideas. In Munster's defence, It looked like an imperfect storm of Quins at their maximum and Munster at their minimum levels of performance. During and after the game rather than, you know trying to maybe analyse how Quins won Morris just spouted the usual hype.
"Quins centre George Lowe is a special talent, expect to see him in an England jersey sooner rather than later.
"Ugo Monye was wonderful today, simply sensational. He is back to his best
"Quins were always going to win. How did those potato eating paddies think they could compete with us?
I actually only made one of them up. Although each one contains almost equal exaggeration. (Ok probably not but still)
