There’ll have to be an inquest, several in fact. So, here’s my tuppence worth.
Jaco Peyper had not yet been troubled as Leinster ran in two splendid tries in the opening six minutes.
The referee then binned Tawera Kerr-Barlow, who was therefore missing when a wonder pass from his opposite number, Jamison Gibson-Park, enabled Dan Sheehan to cross for his second, and his team’s third try. Seventeen points to nil and barely 12 minutes on the clock. You really couldn’t make it up, and if you had no one would have believed it.
Peyper, at this point, may well have thought he was in for an easy day at the office, but that could not have been further from the truth — the match would develop into a brutally physical and aggressive affair.
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After such a calamitous start, La Rochelle gradually steadied their ship, and two tries of their own before half-time were a portent of the brewing storm.
The breakdown, a ferocious contest, needed a stronger approach from the referee. It really should have been better controlled. Don’t forget Peyper, heading to his fourth World Cup, is one of the most experienced around. There were bodies coming in from everywhere, the post-tackle phase becoming quite a chaotic feature. While Leinster were far from saints, Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster will have plenty of legitimate questions, and will certainly want the referee’s rationale for a critical penalty against Caelen Doris.
Another bugbear was something all referees are allowing, so Peyper is not alone in this one. La Rochelle persistently put support players beyond the ball after the tackle, crouching low with hands on the ground, it was impossible to contest possession.
In contrast, the defending team are penalised with great enthusiasm if they dare to do the same thing —Robbie Henshaw was thus penalised for three very important La Rochelle points. World Rugby must look at this before the World Cup: it is completely inequitable to apply the law for the defending team and ignore it for the team in possession.
As for the scrum, well, it never settled, penalties seemed something of a lottery, and one or two probably went the wrong way. But when both frontrows want to wrestle, instead of scrummage, the degree of refereeing difficulty is high. Peyper was too patient with the culprits and might have saved himself some trouble by laying down his requirements more forcibly, verbally and then with harder sanctions when it was clear nobody was paying much attention to him.
Leinster fans were irate when Gregory Alldritt played the ball from Gibson-Park’s hands. Let’s try to clear up what happened. First, because it’s a maul, as distinct from a ruck, Alldritt was onside, and the law, therefore, allows him to play the man in possession, or to play the ball provided it goes backwards. That’s what it looked like, and when Sheehan picked up it should have been “play on”. But Peyper must have seen it as a Gibson-Park knock-on, hence the scrum to La Rochelle, an incorrect call from my reading of events.
The boys in blue defended heroically, and, exactly as in Marseilles last year, were putting in a hell of a lot more tackles than their opponents. It was energy-sapping, as La Rochelle put massive, continuous pressure on the defensive system. Eventually, inevitably, the dam broke, with a converted try by George-Henri Colombes giving the visitors a one-point lead.
Having been lucky to avoid a yellow card for several maul collapses, Leinster eventually broke free of the shackles and, having declined a shot at a long-range penalty, launched a last foray close to the enemy lines. At this point, Jonathan Danty was off for a yellow card offence, which could well have been red.
Leinster were in the last chance saloon, looking like they might just do a snatch-and-grab and steal the victory, when Michael Ala’alatoa decided to enter the breakdown. And what a mindless entry it was, his exceptionally dangerous clear-out achieved absolutely nothing, except the horrendous concussion of Colombes, who was knocked out and stretchered off after lengthy treatment. It was a red mist moment of madness which deserved the red card it got. That was that for Leinster, the last chance was gone.
The final inquest will concentrate on events off the pitch. The well-reported confrontation between opposing coaching staff at half-time will be investigated thoroughly. There is also the question as to what exactly Johnny Sexton said to Peyper just after the final whistle. I’ve no idea, but it didn’t look good.
There was a time when players and coaching staff respected each other and also the match officials, but that ethos, once jealously regarded by other sports, is in peril. We are seeing far too much stuff — on and off the pitch — which we rugby folk scoff at contemptuously when it happens in football or Gaelic games. We need to wise up — rugby no longer holds the moral high ground and it has only itself to blame.
