Fair play to Saracens. No team had a more unifying effect on the 70,000-plus crowd at the Principality Stadium for the Champions Cup final, be they English, French, Irish or whatever. As tries by each of the previous 30 winners were replayed on the giant screens at either end of the ground, Saracens’ three triumphs drew more unified booing than all the others put together.
Saracens were never the most popular in their pomp, but their subsequent fines and relegation from the Premiership for systemic breaches of the salary cap has only accentuated the derision for their triumphs.
The next most audible booing was for Leinster, but this was coloured by the estimated 25,000-30,000 Northampton fans present who took understandable umbrage when reminded of the Johnny Sexton-inspired comeback in the second period of the 2011 final in the very same stadium.
Then again, maybe those boos were supplemented by some of the Munster and Bordeaux fans present. Who knows?
Saracens are the competition’s joint third-most successful side, with three titles, alongside Toulon, while Leinster are the second-highest achievers with four. Inevitably rival fans will have a begrudging attitude toward serial winners. One thinks how Manchester City have replaced Manchester United in that regard. When a team is disliked, it’s very often a mark of their achievements. When no longer quite as disliked, they’re usually on the wane.
Yet Toulouse are the most decorated side in the history of the French Championship (23 titles), and the Champions Cup (six) and their six triumphs were widely applauded in Cardiff, even by the Bordeaux Bègles fans whose side were beaten 59-3 by them just 11 months previously in the French final and, until beating Northampton that day, had never won a major trophy.
“We know everyone loves to hate Leinster,” Joe McCarthy infamously told the RTÉ panel pitchside at the Aviva in the wake of their semi-final win over Glasgow. “That definitely drives us on. We’ve a great fan base. We don’t really care about the outside noise, what you guys say or what the fans or other people say.”
Messages galore there, some of them conflicting. Clearly, this perception helped motivate the team in the week before the Glasgow semi-final (as, one ventures, was the animosity built up over previous clashes with them and Scotland.)
Millwall have long revelled in their “no one likes us, we don’t care” mantra. Ditto the New England Patriots, Saracens, Fergie’s United and others in their pomp. Heck, there have been few better at generating a slight against them, real or perceived, than Munster.
Jack Conan also put McCarthy’s comments into perspective when stating: “I don’t think everyone hates Leinster but I think people definitely revel in us underachieving at times.”
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“A great fan base” could also be interpreted in a number of ways, be it capacity one-off crowds at Croke Park and the 40,000-plus at the Aviva for that Northampton semi-final or, perhaps more accurately, the 11,000 or 15,000 attendances for the URC knock-out games against the Scarlets and Glasgow.
This interpretation would be endorsed by Conan. “What we appreciate is the people who come out to see us week in, week out, when the days are good and the days are bad.”
Interestingly, as well as not caring about the outside noise – which they evidently do care about – McCarthy bracketed “you guys”, “fans” and “other people” together. “You guys” refers to former players such as Jamie Heaslip or Ian Madigan, who not unreasonably questioned whether the buzz had gone from Leinster’s game, and Brian O’Driscoll, who pitched the blame for that Northampton defeat at the feet of the players rather than the coaches.
The irony is that Heaslip, Madigan, O’Driscoll and any other ex-Leinster player turned pundit would, in their playing days, have used critiques by former team-mates turned critics as motivation, and some of McCarthy’s current team-mates will one day have the same effect. And, so the wheel keeps turning.
The reference to what some “fans” might also say, along with others, is probably tacit acknowledgment from within the squad that some of their newer or more entitled supporters can also be the most vitriolic in turning against them after a defeat like that Northampton semi-final.
You also get the distinct feeling that thousands of Leinster fans have been expressing their disappointment by simply staying away until having their interest revived by this Saturday’s URC heavyweight Grand Final against the Bulls.
Leinster haven’t helped themselves by blatantly prioritising that elusive fifth star while coming up short in URC semi-finals. But much of this “revelling” at their expense is based on false premises.
For example, the idea that they are somehow handed a glut of home knock-out ties or central contracts without actually earning them. Or that the IRFU doesn’t receive a handsome return in leasing out the Aviva, sharing gate receipts, while Leinster remain bulk suppliers to a golden era for the Irish team.
But Leo Cullen’s constant referrals to the differing model of Top 14 club sides has worn thin in France, where some of its media also demonised Sexton (even perpetuating untruths about his concussion history) and of late were prompted to do likewise with Andrew Porter and Tadhg Beirne for the knee injury sustained by Antoine Dupont by the French management and players.
This Leinster-Bulls URC Grand Final also comes at a time when there has never been a more competitive rugby rivalry between Ireland and South Africa.
“Does everyone hate Leinster?” answered the Bulls coach Jake White when asked at Croke Park on Thursday, having revealed that fans from rival South African franchises have been wishing them well this week.
“Nah. Everyone’s in awe of Leinster. Just read that team, from Andrew Porter, and go through the list. It just gets better as you’re reading it down the list. You’ve got no Hugo Keenan, but the team is full of stars.
“I mean, I think what he [Joe McCarthy] says, it’s exactly what top players do say. They need to find a way to be better, and why they want to win. And what he was right is they don’t like us. Doesn’t matter, as long as we understand what we need to do. And he’s right.
“So, we’re the same. We’re not the most loved team in the world either,” added White with a wry smile. “Let’s be fair, the Bulls wouldn’t win too many popularity awards if you went around, either, but it doesn’t matter.
“The reality is we’ve got a job to do, as Leinster have got a job to do, and it’s got nothing to do with who likes who and who doesn’t like who. Whoever plays well and takes their chances is going to win the game. And that’s all we want.”
As for the Anglo perspective, it would surely have caught the attention of the current Leinster squad when O’Driscoll, the province’s greatest player, revealed: “I don’t think there’s much love for Leinster across Europe. People will say [it’s] because the fans are hard to deal with and I hear that from my work colleagues over in the UK. There’s not much love for Leinster, and there’s less and less love for Ireland around being good winners.
“It’s hard for very successful teams to enjoy,” added O’Driscoll, also citing the example of Saracens. “That just happens that successful teams will not be loved, people get a bit fed up with it.
“I do think, I don’t see it a huge amount but just from word of mouth that there are things that are put out on social media and conversations that don’t showcase the best of us and certainly don’t help our case saying we’re humble winners, so we have to be mindful of it.”
The former Leinster and Irish captain stressed that, in his view, the supporters were more culpable than the players for generating this antipathy.
“We said it the same about everybody else, Scotland getting ahead of themselves, Wales being hard to work with, England being arrogant. I think we might need to internalise an awful lot of that and have a good, hard look at ourselves because it certainly appears. I saw an article in the Telegraph the other day to the extent of, are Ireland a hard team to enjoy, are they getting ahead of themselves? I would say the supporters, yes. The team, no.”
When previewing this rugby season, the Daily Telegraph ran a headline: “Nine wishes for the rugby season – and why Leinster need another heartbreak”.
In one of the ensuing nine wishes, under a separate headline, “Leinster’s curse continues”, the normally balanced and well-regarded deputy rugby correspondent Daniel Schofield wrote: “I have nothing against Leinster. Fine team, fine players, fine supporters. However, after three successful defeats in the Champions Cup final as well as the United Rugby Championship play-offs, it would be objectively very funny if they went undefeated all season only to lose both the Champions Cup and United Rugby Championship finals.”
It’s doubtful he or the Telegraph would have found the thought of any English club, even Saracens in their dominant era, losing two finals “objectively very funny”.
Interestingly, though, that “wish” drew 81 comments from readers, mostly English rugby fans. Most took offence at its contents, many expressing how much Dublin and Ireland were among their favourite away trips. The same is true of most travelling French fans.
Ultimately, was McCarthy on to something? Do at least some people, if patently not everyone, love to hate Leinster? Most likely some do indeed, both at home and abroad. Perhaps, too, Leinster/Ireland were more liked when they were less of a threat. In that sense, as well as any begrudging acknowledgment of their success, this can be taken as a backhanded compliment.
It’s just easier, and more helpful, to overstate any hatred, real or imagined, and use it as motivation. But can they tap into it two weeks in a row?
