Repeat this in Marseilles and Leinster could be torn asunder.
Saturday, April 4 at the Aviva Stadium. About 20 minutes ago, Leinster beat Bath 18-15 to reach the semi-final of the Champions Cup for the first time in three years.
Jamie Heaslip frowns at the journalist who asks him if Leinster have shown any signs of improvement from this time last year.
‘Yeah,’ he responds. ‘Obviously we’re in the next round.’
Having wrung himself dry for 80 minutes, Heaslip’s response is somewhat snappy. He expands on his initial answer and admits vast improvements will be needed for the final four:
‘We know when you’re at this level that if you make errors, teams are going to score… At the next level, no matter if it’s Wasps or Toulon, we have a massive challenge and we have to improve on today.’
We now know Leinster will be facing Toulon. It is the same Toulon side that are two-time European Cup champions, that have beaten Leinster, Munster and Ulster in the past 12 months and that have scored 86 tries in 28 games this season.
Leinster’s big problem at the weekend was missed tackles. Once in every four tackles they attempted failed. This was highlighted in 60 abysmal seconds on Saturday. It all began with a pointless hoof.
19:01 Jimmy Gopperth pumps the ball upfield. ‘Not his best kick’ remarked Brian O’Driscoll, on commentary duty for BT Sport.
19:14 There is a reprieve for Leinster as Ian Madigan takes a catch, running back into his 22, over his shoulder. The centre’s clearing kick, however, can only find Horacio Agulla on the right wing. The Argentine then beats Madigan and Mike Ross before going to ground.
19:27 Francois Louw is allowed to pick Agulla’s presented ball, unopposed, and dart off. Cian Healy falls off a tackle. Louw gains 15 metres before offloading to Micky Young on the Leinster 22. Young beats a Gopperth tackle. Bath have gained 60 metres in 15 seconds.
19:45 Young gets in a tizzy by turning back into an Isaac Boss tackle. Leinster are then penalised by referee Jerome Garces but Carl Fearns [Bath No.6] throws a sloppy pass to put his team back outside the 22, but on ‘Advantage’.
19:54 Madigan misses another tackle, this time on Lero Houston.
19:58 This is the defensive line George Ford must break to score his try. He is targeting a gap in between Devin Toner and Jordi Murphy. Toner would later be targeted for another Ford line break.
20:00 Ford feigns to pass to Jonathan Joseph but, with a stunning show and go, dummies Murphy and cuts inside. Toner swings an arm but Ford is already beyond him. Only Rob Kearney can stop the out-half now…
20:02 Ford dives over for the try. Fortunately for Leinster, he misses his conversion or that 60 seconds of sloppiness could have been really costly. 60 seconds, two poor kicks, one penalty conceded and seven missed tackles.
The Leinster scrum, and Madigan’s faultless goal-kicking, earned them a semi-final spot. They will need their defence to hit their targets otherwise the likes of Matt Giteau, Delon Armitage and Sebastien Tillous-Borde could make serious hay.
