“They’re three games away from winning it. I think sometimes people forget how close teams actually are to it.”
Leinster are guaranteed a home quarter final in the Champions Cup and it will take a bad turn or two for them not to secure top seeding towards a home semi final draw too.
Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster are building a team capable of going deep in both league and cup competitions and that is most definitely the ambition. Following Sunday’s 55-19 bashing of Glasgow, Cullen spoke of the hurt and determination – stemming from two semi final defeats in 2016/17 – that is spurring his squad on.
It helps, this season, that Leinster’s academy has produced another couple of top talents that have already made an impact, this season, to the senior squad. Josh Murphy is well regarded by many of the senior stars – Sean O’Brien and Joey Carbery have both raved about him – while Hugo Keenan, Conor O’Brien, Jeremy Loughman, Oisín Heffernan and Charlie Rock have all made their debuts in the Guinness PRO14.
The academy stand-out, however, is 20-year-old Jordan Larmour. The former St Andrew’s man has made 13 senior appearances so far this season, has scored six tries and has already won Player of the Month for November and December.
Larmour’s recent form came in for some much deserved praise on the BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly as the reviewed last weekend’s Champions Cup action. “He is doing some magical things,” declared co-host Ugo Monye of Cullen’s re-invigoration of Leinster.
“There’s a conveyor-belt of talent coming through at Leinster. Not only is their set-piece functioning really well but they’ve some absolute stars in the back.
“It was only six months ago that we were talking about Joey Carbery and now it’s Jordan Larmour. What a wonderful player. Everybody remembers it but, if you haven’t seen it, his counter-attacking try against Munster just a few weeks ago. They just seem to have this conveyor belt, like New Zealand have. Incredible.”
A try of the season contender from Jordan Lamour?!
A length of the field try for @Leinsterrugby to stop the @Munsterrugby fight back in it's tracks! 🔥🔥🔥#GUINNESSPRO14 #MUNvLEI pic.twitter.com/E85AbEiMOz
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) December 26, 2017
Harlequins and England scrum-half Danny Care, who was also on the show, talked Leinster up as top Champions Cup contenders.
“They seem to get some of the southern hemisphere’s best finishers,” he said. “Isa Nacewa is still absolutely brilliant and James Lowe scored a great try. They’ve got everything – the backs and the pack to win this competition.”
It was pointed out that – following this weekend’s final pool game against Montpellier – Leinster could play quarter- and semi-finals at the Aviva Stadium before heading on to Bilbao for the final, in May. Monye commented:
“They’re three games away from winning it. I think sometimes people forget how close teams actually are to it… It’s hard to back against them at present. They are playing an all-court game.”
The comments of the lads on Rugby Weekly definitely tally with that of the bookies, all of whom have installed Leinster as favourites.
