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Gerry Thornley: Man management is key for Leinster after long season for Irish players

We should never forget or underplay how much a World Cup campaign takes out of players

Leinster's James Lowe in training. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho

Gerry Thornley's face
Gerry Thornley
Fri Mar 22 2024 - 18:32

Ireland tend not to have remarkable Six Nations campaigns in World Cup seasons. Back in 2008 they finished fourth, and after each of the last three World Cups, the drain has been such that they have finished third each time.

Viewed in that light, Andy Farrell’s team bucked a trend by retaining their Six Nations crown last weekend but one ventures that when the provinces welcome back their respective Championship winners they’ll be mindful of the need to man manage them more carefully than ever.

We should never forget or underplay how much a World Cup campaign takes out of players, who are not robots, and all the more so when there is the added strain of successfully defending a Six Nations title. Is it any wonder really that Ireland slightly staggered over the line in the last two weekends?

Ireland have played 13 Tests in the first seven months of this season, and Farrell has retained a core of frontliners who have played in all of the ten competitive games. As bulk suppliers, the biggest strain has been placed on Leinster, who provided 18 of Ireland’s 33-man World Cup squad and 19 of the 32 players used in the Six Nations.

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Of those, Robbie Henshaw (who played all bar 17 minutes of the five games), James Lowe, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Joe McCarthy, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris, Ronan Kelleher, Ryan Baird and Jack Conan played every game.

Doris, like Lowe, played every minute of Ireland’s Six Nations campaign, and his stats were off the charts after five huge shifts, while both players also started all of Ireland’s five World Cup games. In addition, of course, James Ryan has suffered a torn bicep.

On the balance of things, you’d have to think that the heavy international load which has been placed on the Irish frontliners, and especially Leinster, will make it more difficult for Leo Cullen’s team to go one better in the Champions Cup this season, or even win silverware for the first time in three seasons after losing home URC semi-finals in each of the last two campaigns.

Admittedly, Leinster did retain the Champions Cup in 2012 and were only denied a double when the Ospreys beat them 31-30 at the RDS in the final of the Pro12.

Furthermore, four years ago Leinster did win a Covid-interrupted, rearranged and truncated Pro14, but they were beaten in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup, as were Ulster, while Munster went out in the pool stages.

Four seasons previously, Leinster endured a torrid time, suffering their worst European campaign when losing five out of six pool matches and then losing the Pro12 final in Murrayfield against a vibrant, fresher-looking Connacht, who were largely unaffected by the World Cup and the Six Nations that season.

And how it showed. While Pat Lam’s team also reached the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup that season, ala Leinster, both Munster and Ulster failed to progress to the knock-out stages of the Champions Cup.

The signs this season are already a little ominous. Both Connacht and Ulster were among the eight teams not to advance to the Round of 16 in the Champions Cup, with Ulster not even achieving the consolation of a place in the Challenge Cup. Like those two, Munster could only win one of four pool matches as well, and hence face a Round 16 tie away to Northampton.

Leinster have, admittedly, again assured themselves of potential home ties in the Champions Cup all the way through to the final, albeit the decider this season will be held in Tottenham rather than the Aviva Stadium. As usual, they also sit top of the URC.

However, the toll placed on so many of Leinster’s international players, as much mental as physical, would make winning a trophy, or two, even more of an achievement this season.

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