Leinster can now bask in glorious season

ON RUGBY:The reality is that this season will never be bettered unless Ireland win the World Cup, writes GERRY THORNLEY.

NOT SO much a monkey off their backs, as a gorilla. Leinster can bask in the glow of a hard-earned, season-long triumph, while absorbing the draw for next season’s Heineken Cup in the second week of June and then embarking upon a new campaign as reigning European champions. That ought to feel pretty cool.

Not that they will be allowed rest on their laurels. The insatiable ambition of Michael Cheika and their team leaders will ensure that. It always seems a little churlish to move agendas on in the immediate aftermath of a momentous triumph – not least one that took 14 years – but then this is nothing compared to the Lions management who decreed that Leinster’s four Lions were bound for London at 8.50am on Sunday morning. Ye Gods, have they no heart? Would there not have been an argument for giving them a 48-hour respite, if only to recharge their brains and emotions as much as their bodies?

Short of the utopian wish that Leinster and Munster invade Paris next May and contest next season’s Heineken Cup final, as expressed by one blue-clad supporter on the homeward journey, or Ireland winning the World Cup (and in both cases we’re probably getting a little greedy here), then the reality is that this season will never be bettered.

As generations go, a golden one was coming to the end of its cycle and opportunities such as those that have been grasped since Munster first won the Heineken Cup in 2006 have given tangible reward to many brilliant careers.

It’s being asked again whether Munster will bounce back? Of course they will. They always have, and Leinster’s triumph – while warmly welcomed by the vast majority of their players and supporters – will only stiffen resolve in the south-west to regain the crown.

Informed sources say the conveyor belt in the Leinster Academy is better oiled than Munster’s, though time will tell. One of the many boons of their expanded homes, increased support and successes is that Munster and Leinster can now afford to compete in the market place with the privately owned French and English heavyweights, ie for the like of Rocky Elsom and Doug Howlett.

There’s little doubt the English and French would love to emulate Ireland’s system, and the provincial/Irish game management of the frontliners and various fitness staffs have been a huge contributory factor to the recent wave of success.

Similarly, Gordon D’Arcy’s recent case history is the latest example – albeit a flawed and delayed one – that the recoveries from serious injuries amongst players here probably makes the IRFU’s medical back-up system as good as any in the world.

Even so, two of Munster’s eight selected Lions – the cruelly unfortunate Jerry Flannery and Tomás O’Leary – will already be in recuperation from injury at the start of next season, and it will be a test even of Ireland’s well-managed resources to ensure the other five Munstermen and four Leinstermen recover for next season.

And sooner or later, while there are gems such as Keith Earls, Luke Fitzgerald, Cian Healy, Seán O’Brien and Jonathan Sexton who will be around for some time, some rebuilding will have to be done. The stock of their coaching staff has risen too, and not alone will Michael Cheika be more of a wanted man now than ever before in his native land and beyond, but so too Kurt McQuilkin’s reputation must be soaring given the outstanding work he has done on Leinster’s defence.

When their attack misfired after Christmas in the latter pool stages and quarter-finals, it was Leinster’s defence and guts which helped them through their moments of crisis. All of Leinster’s players clearly retain a certain anger towards critics of themselves and coach Michael Cheika this season, and Malcolm O’Kelly went so far as to admit the desire to shove some words down certain throats was a source of inspiration for them.

In his understandable bitterness concerning some of the more extreme criticism which came Leinster’s way – ironically probably more so this season than any other – Brian O’Driscoll perhaps went a little overboard in not extending a hearty welcome to their newer fans. Because that’s the nature of sport and success. Even the Red Army was scarcely a red battalion before 2000.

Who knows, if Leinster had made their breakthrough into a final earlier then the Blue Army would have been born sooner, but it’s not as if they have been lacking support over the years. They provided the majority of that estimated 30,000 crowd who attended the inaugural Celtic League final of December 2001, filled the old Lansdowne Road on its last day for a league game at home to Ulster and have had such a strong core of support in recent times that they were the league’s best-supported side last season.

Besides, as O’Driscoll and his team-mates also readily conceded, all that blue in the final was a huge source of inspiration for them, and presumably they can’t all have been regular attendees at home games.

Credit here, too, has to go to the Leinster marketing department – Keira Kennedy, Ian Murray and Mark Quinn – and their team of volunteers for painstakingly placing all those blue flags under Leinster seats at Murrayfield. Leinster have clearly learned from the 2006 semi-final at Lansdowne Road and are intent on never being outnumbered so visibly again.

Now that they are European champions, presumably last season’s tally of 9,800 season ticket sales might be bettered. Although the perception is that they have been selling somewhat slowly – understandably – in point of fact there are more sold at this juncture (8,000) than a year ago.

The one blemish in all of this is that none of the heightened interest in most things Leinster extends to the club game in the province, and you wonder how many of the estimated 40,000 who supported them in Murrayfield have ever seen the sky over a club ground?

The clubs remains the best outlet for any potential growth in terms of playing the game which the last year and a half may have prompted, yet there remains a real disconnection between province and clubs. The Leinster Branch point out that all Leinster’s clubs between them only took up 200 tickets in total for each of the three home pool games.

Be that as it may, clearly branch and clubs have to start working together better. Otherwise, this will be an opportunity lost on both sides.