MARK KEOHANE | No need to dazzle in the playoffs when dour will do

La Rochelle’s stunning defeat of Leinster in the Champions Cup final is a pointer to the South African blueprint that can break the Irish giants’ stranglehold on the United Rugby Championship.

The critical word here is “pointer” because it must be accepted that a blueprint is only as good as those tasked to implement it.

Leinster have been the undeniable dominant force in the URC and those Celtic competitions that preceded this season’s inaugural league to include SA’s four leading franchises.

The introduction to the URC was harsh for South African teams playing away from home in the first month of the competition. The youthful and inexperienced squads took a beating from, especially, the Irish provinces, many of which at the time included their current internationals.

SA’s coaches spoke of the pace at which Leinster played and the technical skill set of their attack. It was as if they were talking about New Zealand’s Crusaders. There was awe in how they spoke.

But as the URC season settled and South African teams started to play at home, some of them strengthened by current Springboks, they started winning consistently and all four sides looked remarkably at ease with the northern opposition.

Leinster, in playing the Sharks and Stormers in SA, left the core of their first-choice team at home to focus on the Champions Cup. The Irish side lost both matches, albeit narrowly, which underlined the depth of Leinster, but also emphasised that for them to win in SA next season they will have to bring their best players.

On occasions in the past when South African teams have upset the Crusaders or the Springboks have upstaged the All Blacks, it has always been because of intent up front, physicality and a rush defence.

Leinster won’t have to think about that in the next month because they will play a quarterfinal, semifinal and final at home, and it would take something out of the ordinary to knock them over at home.

But La Rochelle, stacked with physicality as a pack and manic in their rush defence, which also relies heavily on physical presence, completely stifled Leinster’s ability to play with flow, freedom and flamboyance. 

Leinster’s pack was second in the set-piece and always under pressure in the scrum, and it was only the experience and defensive attitude of Leinster that took the game to the final minute before La Rochelle scored.

We have seen it on occasions in the past when South African teams have upset the Crusaders or the Springboks have upstaged the All Blacks, and it has always been because of intent up front, physicality and a rush defence.

It could be argued that the Stormers pack is the closest in physical presence to La Rochelle and that the Bulls and Sharks, one of who will play Leinster in the semifinal, don’t have the scrum to dominate Leinster.

However, they do have the physicality to stifle that team and they also have the players to put in the type of defensive 80-minute performances that win one-off knockout matches.

I am not suggesting that any of the Stormers, Sharks or Bulls tailor their desire to attack with width and from deep within their territory, but this has to be counterbalanced with an understanding of “finals” rugby and with an appreciation of how to negate the biggest strength of the league’s best team.

Those teams who want to put on a dazzling display against Leinster will come second, no matter how pleasing it is on the eye.

SA’s URC challenge, as a collective, has been inspiring to watch in the second half of the season, but for a South African team to go to Dublin and win the URC it is going to mean playing direct and physical, and playing field position.

This is a case when being dour will bring delights and dazzle will only mean despair.

Mark Keohane is the founder of keo.co.za, a multiple award-winning sports writer and the digital content director at Highbury Media., Twitter @mark_keohane.