Boss relishing final against old comrades

HAVING LOST just once in their last 26 matches this season, and only three times in their last 29 Heineken Cup matches, Leinster will go into the final as eight-point favourites.

Over a week ago at Ravenhill, the Leinster champions completed a sixth successive league win over Ulster, but cup matches are usually an altogether different matter, all the more so if they are derbies.

So it was that although Ulster had completed two bonus-point wins over Edinburgh in the league this season, last Saturday’s semi-final was never likely to follow that path, even if Ulster were a good deal more comfortable in victory than the final scoreline suggested.

Furthermore, of course, Ulster will have the hugely influential John Afoa back from suspension, while there’s every chance that Chris Henry will be back. Akin to last year too, there is arguably more pressure on Leinster to become only the second side to retain their title and in the process to win three cups in four years. In the process, they would lay claim to being the best team in the tournament’s history.

But, as their scrumhalf Isaac Boss insists: “We haven’t really achieved anything. We’ve just made the final, that’s all. We didn’t do it the pretty way either. We’re all set to be there and to be honest it was more relief in the end. We held out so well and revealed a lot of character in the team. We know that there are a lot of parts of our game that were a bit scrappy as well. That probably happens in big games like this. But we could have played a lot better.”

The easy-going, New Zealand-born Irish international has been playing in Ireland for seven seasons now, having played 85 times for Ulster in his five seasons with them, and had been in touch with a few of his ex-teammates last week, “especially with Chris Henry, because I know how desperately he wanted to be a part of what happened on Saturday”.

“Yeah, they’ve worked hard. I’m just concentrating on ourselves first. I’m chuffed we’re there to be honest. But yeah, it’s great to have two Irish teams in the final and I’m sure it’s going to bee a great day in Twickenham,” said Boss.

“I’m good mates with a few of them. They’ve come a long way in this competition. They had a tough pool as well and to get to the final from there is a good effort by them. We’ll keep in touch with them in the next few weeks and I’m sure there’ll be a bit of banter going on amongst us all. We can’t look too far ahead though. We need to reassess what happened here, see what we did right and wrong and then have a chance to watch their game properly.”

Indeed, on a line through Clermont, whom Ulster beat at Ravenhill before losing by four points in Clermont’s Stade Marcel Michelin, there would be little between the sides.

“It’s going to be a special occasion for me,” said Boss, briefly allowing himself to look ahead to the final in three weeks’ time. “I saw the emotion on all the Ulster boys’ faces on Saturday after their match. That’s going to bring something into it.

“We haven’t had a chance to think about that yet. We have to regroup after this one before we even start contemplating Ulster. And then we have another couple of weeks’ matches to get through as well. We’re fighting for the league as well and that’s important to us as a group. There’s a lot of rugby to be played. None of our teams will look far ahead and we’ll focus on performing week in week out because we all want to make that final team.”

In this, Boss is also speaking accurately on behalf of his teammates, for Leinster still have designs on an historic double. The memory remains of them missing out on the double last season in the last game of the season against Munster in the Thomond Park league final, a cruel last memory to have from such a wonderful season.

This season they have taken out the insurance policy of running away with first place in the league as well, thereby ensuring home advantage in the semi-finals and, if they win that, in the final also.

Since Ulster’s win in 1999, 10 of the last dozen finals have been one-score games, the exceptions being Wasps’ 25-9 win over Leicester in 2007 at Twickenham and Leinster’s 33-22 win over Northampton last year, which wasn’t exactly a walk in the park for the holders.