Leinster will need Johnny Sexton to shine again in Champions Cup pursuit

Between them, the Irish provinces have won the Champions Cup seven times, and it’s assuredly no coincidence that they have done so with Ireland’s three best outhalves of the professional age at the helm: David Humphreys, Ronan O’Gara and Johnny Sexton.

History suggests this could again be a significant factor in Leinster’s favour when they meet La Rochelle at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseilles this Saturday (kick-off 5.45pm local time/4.45pm Irish, live on Virgin Media, Channel 4 and BT Sport), for which ticket sales are now over 58,000.

Simon Mason was the goalkicking hero in 1998-99 when Ulster beat the hot favourites Toulouse in the quarter-finals, a star-studded Stade Francais in the semi-finals and especially Colomiers in the final when landing six penalties, but Harry Williams’ unfancied team would never have won that European Cup without Humphreys’ stardust.

In the 15-13 win over Toulouse he landed two critical drop goals as well as making what Humphreys would be the first to admit was a relative rarity - a try-saving tackle at the end. He injured his shoulder in the process.

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But he recovered in time for the semi-final a month later at a packed Ravenhill, its capacity increased from 12,000 to 20,000 with temporary seating. Early in the second half, when leading by a point, he took a flat, blindside pass from scrumhalf Andy Matchett inside the Ulster 22, chipped for right-winger Sheldon Coulter to catch and draw the Stade fullback Sebastien Viars before feeding the supporting Humphreys for a 50-metre finish along the righthand touchline.

“It was the most memorable try I ever scored,” Humphreys would subsequently tell Jonathan Bradley in his book The Last Amateurs. Humphreys also augmented Mason’s six penalties in the final with a drop goal.

O’Gara, as much as any Munsterman, had to endure the final losses in 2000 and 2002 against Northampton and Leicester to come back a stronger man in 2008 when he remained absolutely integral to his team’s chances. He scored more than 100 points in their run to the 2008 final, including 20 in the semi-final win over Leinster, and when Munster reached their Holy Grail by beating Biarritz in Cardiff, O’Gara landed five kicks from five.

Two years later, he again scored over a century of points en route to the final, a tense 16-13 victory over Toulouse, when he kicked four from four in an 11-point haul.

Sexton’s breakthrough came with Felipe Contepomi’s injury in the semi-final at Croke Park a year on, and he has been utterly central in so many ways to Leinster’s four triumphs since then, the standout being Roy of the Rovers second-half against Northampton in 2011 and a 28-point haul.

Leinster lost their first three semi-finals before Sexton’s emergence in 2009, since when, in addition to winning four out of five finals with him at out-half, Leinster have won five out of six semi-finals when he has played. In addition to the three before his arrival, in the three subsequent semi-finals without Sexton, Leinster lost them all, to Toulouse in 2010 (when he was injured), in 2015 against Toulon (when with Racing 92) and last season against La Rochelle (injured again).

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The notion that it is virtually imperative to have a top-end, Test-quality outhalf is also illustrated increasingly by the cast list of winners. A dozen of the last 19 Champions’ Cup winning sides have had Lions’ Test players at out-half: O’Gara (two winners medals), Sexton (four), Jonny Wilkinson (two) and Owen Farrell (three).

Of the others, four were French international ‘10s’ - Yann Delaigue, Frederic Michalak, David Skrela and Romain Ntamack - one a brilliant Wallabies out-half in Matt Giteau, and the other an English international, Alex King, who earned two winners medals with Wasps.

Oddly, only two of the first nine winners had primary goalkickers at ‘10′. But since Michalak shared the kicking duties with his half-back partner Jean-Baptiste Elissalde when Toulouse won in 2005, in every year bar one the winning team has had an accomplished goalkicker at out-half, including Exeter’s Joe Simmonds when he was Man of the Match in Exeter’s win over Racing 92 in the final in 2020.

In other words, the importance of having a top-end, goalkicking out-half has if anything heightened.

This will be a sixth final for Sexton and, most probably, Cian Healy, meaning they will equal the mark set by Cedric Heymans, and a fifth winning final would also eclipse Heymans, Michalak, Isa Nacewa and Devin Toner.

In last season’s semi-final, Ihaia West landed seven out of seven and a drop goal for a 22-point haul, although come the final he missed three kicks out of seven - equating to eight points off the ‘t’ - whereas Ntamack landed six out of six in Toulouse’s 22-17 win.

Similarly, in the French Championship final seven weeks later between the same sides, West missed two out of three penalties whereas Thomas Ramos landed four from four and a drop goal in Toulouse’s 18-8 victory.

In the semi-finals a fortnight ago, Sexton kicked six from six in a 15-point haul as well as his three try assists when they beat Toulouse to bring his kicking ratio in this season’s Champions Cup to 85.3 per cent. By contrast, West missed three out of four, leaving his ratio at 75.9% for this season’s tournament.

None of this may mean anything come kick-off on Saturday evening, but amongst other things it is Sexton’s presence which again strengthens Leinster’s quest for that coveted fifth star.

Johnny Sexton v Ihaia West in 2021-22 Champions Cup

Sexton: Played 6. Points: 65 (7 penalties, 22 conversions). Successful kicks: 29 out of 34. Ratio: 85.3%.

West: Played 6. Points: 67 (13 penalties, 9 conversions, 2 tries). Successful kicks: 22 out of 29. Ratio: 75.9%.