Irish sides stand in way of Anglo-French bullies

ON RUGBY:CAST A cursory glance across the six Heineken Cup group tables and, as is the case off the pitch, the French and English heavyweights have wasted less time than normal in transferring their bully-boy tactics to Europe's stadia. And if the Rabo Pro 12 nations are as lightweight off the pitch as many of their representatives have been on it, then from 2014 onwards it really will be a glorified Anglo-French Cup.

These are early days of course. It is only October and as well as the pivotal back-to-back clashes before Christmas there are the inevitable twists and turns to come over the final two rounds in January. Yet already, as has been the case most seasons for the last 14 years, the only teams poised to prevent an Anglo-French carve-up in this season’s knock-out stages are the Irish.

The French had a particularly good weekend as not only the big-spending, international-laden squads of Clermont, Toulouse and Toulon won again to assume clear leadership of their pools, but Castres, Biarritz and Montpellier all won at home, leaving Racing Metro as the only Gallic losers.

As would have been expected, the English champions of Harlequins already look well placed not only to win Pool Three but probably secure top seeding as well while the manner of Saracens’ win over a strictly-limited Racing reinforces the feeling that Munster’s opening defeat in Paris truly was a win that got away. At any rate, it does give the English team an edge in their pool while Leicester too are better placed after their late bonus point over the Ospreys. With Treviso in their group, there’s every chance they and Toulouse could progress from Pool Two.

All told, the seven Top 14 sides have accumulated 10 wins from 14 games or, put another way, 44 points. The six Premiership sides have won seven from 12 and garnered 34 points. The 11 Pro 12 sides, between them, have seven victories and the same number of points (34) combined.

Statistics, damned lies and statistics? As a means of strengthening their argument for the status quo the Pro 12 hasn’t exactly been making a compelling case, and especially so the Italians and Scots. Their four sides haven’t managed to pick up a solitary point.

Examine the Pro 12’s tally further, and one can also see that the Irish teams account for six of the seven wins, and 27 of the 34 points, with the Welsh regions managing a paltry seven points thus far from six matches (and the Ospreys’ bonus point win at home to Treviso accounts for five of them).

The Welsh have never quite had the impact or love affair with their regions and the Heineken Cup which Irish rugby has enjoyed, and with a flight of wild geese proportions to the cash-rich French clubs they were always likely to fall off the pack some more. So, alas, it is coming to pass.

Which leaves the Irish. Through no great design on the part of the IRFU, the benefits to Irish rugby overall, as well as to Connacht from them finally dining at Europe’s top table, are already evident. Dan Parks, as some of us suspected at any rate, already looks like the most astute signing of the summer and Eric Elwood’s contention that Kieran Marmion and Robbie Henshaw are internationals of the future doesn’t look so fanciful. They mightn’t be the only ones.

Flawed though Munster’s performance was (in running over the touchline with either locks or wingers, at times they made the pitch look narrow rather than wide) there was always likely to be a degree of nerves after three successive defeats on the road. And to be at Thomond Park on Sunday you couldn’t but appreciate the feel-good factor generated by the way they grabbed a bonus point with the last play. That will sustain them.

Best placed and in the best shape, until Sunday at any rate, were undoubtedly Ulster, giving them a slight edge going into their games with Northampton in December. Whereupon news came through that Johann Müller would be out for eight weeks and thus miss those games.

Arguably there is no more irreplaceable player in the Ulster set-up than Muller, whose lineout control, restart organisation and refusal to cede an inch around the fringes were the driving forces in his side’s assured win away to Glasgow last Friday.

Leinster’s form wouldn’t be so worrying for Joe Schmidt and his players were it not for the scorching pace being set by Clermont. They have effectively been knocked out of the Heineken Cup for five seasons running by first Munster (for two seasons) and, for the last three campaigns, by Leinster.

You can only go knocking out a squad of Clermont’s resources so many times.

No team was going to be more motivated or dangerous against Leinster this season than Clermont. Five years ago, on the same second weekend of the Heineken Cup, Vern Cotter brought a largely second-string side to Thomond Park and were beaten 36-16; a result which ultimately put them out on the head-to-head record after they finished level on 19 points with Munster.

Roll on five years and Cotter was resting Morgan Parra, Aurelien Rougerie and others the week before their European opener against Scarlets, all of whom were retained for their 46-12 win over Exeter. And so much for their poor away form.

By ruthlessly pressing home their supremacy against the Scarlets and the Exeter Chiefs, they have given themselves a two-point buffer going into the first of their clashes with Leinster on Sunday, December 9th.

Tellingly, Cotter commented after Saturday’s win: “We have two more points than Leinster, something that could change somewhat the approach to the double header and notably the very big meeting at the Aviva Stadium. Two years ago we were somewhat impressed by the atmosphere and let the event pass us by. This time we’ve been warned.”

It appears they’ve finally got it, and they’ve got it through pain, which as Munster and Leinster can tell you, is usually the way it is in this competition.

gthornley@irishrugby.com