JACK IN THE PACKBernard Jackman
WELL Leinster got the win at the Aviva on Friday night and will have been happy with the 4 points but I felt that the referee played a large part in ruining the game as a spectacle for the 48,000 paying fans and the TV viewers at home.
For the past couple of season the administrators have had a policy of bringing English or French referees in for what has become the biggest derby match in European Rugby. For the latest instalment young French ref Pascal Gauzere was the man with the whistle and he blew for 30 penalties on the night, which completely killed any momentum either side built up. We did witness an exhibition of place kicking from Johnny Sexton and Ronan O’Gara but with so much attacking flair on show their could have been more tries scored.
I feel that the ref was far too quick to penalize at the breakdown and this was down to his inability to communicate with the play-ers effectively and use what the good referees call “positive refereeing” i.e. warn the players to release the ball or move away before blowing for a penalty. If the referee allows the team to ruck players out of the way with the boot in a safe manner then the ball will come out quickly anyway and the game will flow. I thought that Leinster looked to have more about them in attack and I thought the Sexton, D’arcy, McFadden partnership was very lively. Fergus McFadden is now likely to get a run at 13 with Brian O’ Driscoll having an operation on his recurring neck problem which will leave him side-lined for six months. McFadden is an excellent player and he has done very well whenever he has played but this presents him with a consistent run of games in his favourite position.
Issac boss was excellent at scrum half and it looks like he will have another great battle with Eoin Reddan over the course of the season for the number 9 jersey. Last year, Joe Schmidt tended to favor Boss for the away matches and Reddan for the home games and it will be interesting to see if one of these players can become a clear 1st choice.
With Shane Horgan injured, Isa Nacewa played on the wing to allow Rob Kearney play in his best position of Full Back. With a back three of Fitzgerald, Nacewa and Kearney opposition sides will be very reluctant to kick loose ball away as those players will hurt them.
The weaknesses on the night for Leinster were the discipline, scrum and lineout maul defence. Fabien Galthie, the former French scrum half and captain, is the coach of Leinster’s opponents on Saturday in the Heineken Cup and he will have taken great confidence from how Munster dominated the maul and the scrum.
Even though Munster will have been disappointed with the loss and the injury to Keith Earls early in the match, they too can take positives from the match.
When Munster failed for the first time ever in the Heineken Cup to qualify from the group stages last season there was a lot of analysis done on why they failed and how they would rebuild. Munster had been incredibly fortunate that they had a bunch of players that dominated selection for a long time and now they are starting to retire.
It’s an amazing stat that this weekend will be the first time ever in the Heineken Cup that Munster will field a back row without Anthony Foley, Alan Quinlan or David Wallace in the squad. There is a real changing of the guard there and opportunities for younger players to build their reputations.