SUFFICIENT TIME HAS passed to take the edge of frustration off Sunday’s slip-up in France.
Leinster have recognised, analysed and taken stock of their mistakes against Toulouse, focusing now on making good of their painful experience at the Stade Ernest Wallon.
Jack McGrath and Dan Leavy in training yesterday. Source: Oisin Keniry/INPHO
Returning to work this week with those lessons in defeat having sharpened minds, the eastern province are intent on getting back to doing what they do best this weekend, as they travel to face Benetton in the Guinness Pro14.
If the disappointment of defeat does serve as a more instructive process than the sustained success Leinster have experienced in the last 12 months, Sunday’s loss — their first in 10 European games — will represent a valuable learning curve for Leo Cullen’s side.
Leinster were quick to identify the areas which contributed to their downfall on Sunday, admitting there were too many inaccuracies in their performance, particularly in the first and last quarters of a high-octane European contest, while also honing in on the individual errors which cost them.
After the crushing defeat of Wasps in round one, the defending champions were brought rudely back down to earth by a resurgent Toulouse outfit.
“I think the key things we talked about were the first 20 and the last 20,” Stuart Lancaster said yesterday. “You know, when you go to France, and I think Clermont told us this in the semi-final [two years ago], when you go to those high intense French atmospheres, you need to start well and you need to take the energy out of the crowd and I think we did the opposite. We gave them three points, six points.
“They played well, no doubt they were one of the best teams we played against in terms of the uniqueness of how they played, they did the homework and key ball players played very well. But it was disappointing to give them that 14-point start, we then fight hard to get to 27-21 with 60 minutes gone, to then throw an intercept and one or two what I would call mental errors — a missed lineout, this that and the other.”
On the match-turning and defining moment, when Luke McGrath’s intended pass for Jack Conan was read and intercepted by Louis Madaule, before Maxime Médard finished off a clinical counter-attack from the Top 14 side, Lancaster said: “There’s a bit of luck, certainly. Whether they’ve seen us do it on previous occasions, I mean you don’t run the same plays all the time. I just think you’ve got to give them and their coaches credit.
“They prepared their team well, they played a good brand and it was a great game of rugby. Small margins could have gone our way and we would have been happy, but we’re not happy, which is probably not a bad thing for us.”
The hope is that defeat, particularly in the circumstances, will produce a reaction from Leinster. Not just this weekend when they travel to Italy, but moving forward this season.
“It has taught us a good lesson,” the senior coach continued.