It was fitting that Jamison Gibson-Park should usher his team over the winning line with a late try as he had done more to elevate Leinster’s attack, clear-eyed and alive to the space beyond the fringes of rucks. In those moments he dragged his team away from an unsuccessful policy of trying to run over the Stormers.
The Leinster scrumhalf operated like a man on the lam, looking to escape and outfox what was for the most part a vigilant Stormers defence. Gibson-Park periodically provided a release of tension for the home supporters, a chance to cheer and a respite from the collision-fest in and around the Stormers goal-line from which Leinster came up empty handed.
In some respects, Leo Cullen’s side were a living and breathing exemplar of the definition of insanity: doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome.
The 34-year-old understood the folly of allowing the South Africans to get set in their defensive lines and it was his hustle that allowed his side to rack up easier yardage, when making the hard yards was beyond the home team for the most part.
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In a couple of his breaks ahead of the match-defining one, Gibson-Park didn’t just take off and accept contact, he changed direction, weaved in-and-out of traffic, changed the point of attack, shaped to pass, accelerated and slowed down, all the while keeping the Stormers pursuers at bay. It was the antithesis to much of Leinster’s play.
If others were attuned to the same wavelength the initial surge might have culminated in a try. It wasn’t just his scampering ability that stood out. He was the focal point of Leinster’s kicking game from the get-go, launching three steepling box-kicks – the home side’s aerial work was sharp – but he also thumped long clearances down the touchline.
The latter was a point picked up by head coach Cullen when pressed to deliver a eulogy to his scrumhalf. It was the most uncomfortable Gibson-Park looked all day. “That moment, it sums it up. He’s so opportunistic. Plus, he gets a guy [Salmaan Moerat] binned at the same time, which is quite good.
“[He, Moerat] plays the ball on the ground with his foot. He’s so instinctive, Jamison. That’s brilliant. But how he exits [our 22 with his kicks] is the big thing. In some of these big games, [it’s] hugely important in terms of applying pressure on the opposition and relieving pressure on ourselves.”
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Gibson-Park as he took some friendly fire when Sam Prendergast clattered him in the head when attempting to clear the ball down the pitch. It wasn’t a little dunt. The Leinster outhalf put his foot through the ball as he sought maximum distance.
What made it even more wince-inducing was that the scrumhalf was oblivious at the moment of impact, his head turned looking down the pitch. The groans from the crowd when the incident was replayed on the stadium screens could have come with the bubble, “that definitely hurt.”
Gibson-Park required a timeout. He recalled: “It was a strange one. It’s different to a normal knock on the head you get used to from, like, body on body. It’s a bit of a different feel to it.
“And I wasn’t quite ready for it, so it caught me off guard. My ears were ringing. I didn’t know what was going on there for half a second, but I was able to shake it off then, thankfully.” Was it your fault for getting in the way? “Of course, Sam will say that, yes,” he smiled.
Gibson-Park’s match winning moment was delayed by a review from the officials, the context and content of which was not immediately obvious. The scrumhalf had the ball knocked from his grasp, backwards, but he played to the whistle which never came. He shot through a gap, stepped off his left foot to beat the last defender and touched down under the posts.
Did you know the try was good? “I knew it had gone backwards, so ...” At 20-11 with 10 minutes remaining the game wasn’t won but the try-infused belief and resolve. He said: “There was a huge amount of chat, but also some tired bodies.
“That’s when the real tests are, when you’re out there, feeling a lot of fatigue. The lads stuck in as we’ve done a couple of times this year and were able to get the job done. Hopefully it’ll stand to us in a couple of weeks’ time.”
