The Champions Cup finalists have been revealed following two enthralling semi-finals last weekend.
Leinster will face Toulouse in London in the final showdown that most neutrals would have wanted. Both teams raced into strong leads in their respective semis, only to relinquish control to the opposition in the second half, making the games more of a contest than they could have been.
Northampton struggled to get a foothold in the first half against Leinster. They had nine handling errors in 25 minutes and found it hard to build any phases to worry Leinster.
While the Northampton defence was ferocious, they gave Leinster too many entries into their territory; and Leo Cullen's outfit are a side that don't need a second invitation to convert those entries to points.
Northampton also lost the penalty count heavily enough. It was 6-1 with regards to penalty concessions in the first 30 minutes, giving Leinster more access than the visitors would have liked.
Jamison Gibson-Park was the fulcrum of everything that went well for Leinster. An interesting sub plot in the final in London will be the tale of two of the game’s most influential scrum-halves, when Gibson-Park squares off against Antoine Dupont.
Dupont played a similar role for Toulouse at the weekend, taking just seven minutes to make a line break from a maul. He scored two tries from line breaks where he gained a total of two metres for his 10 points, picking the ball quickly from the ruck before the defence could get back to set.
The speed of ball that both scrum-halves play with will make the final an epic contest. The added complication with that speed of ball will be the power in both forward units and their competitiveness at the breakdown.
We know that Leinster like to slow down the opposition ball, even more so with the coaching influence of Jacques Nienaber. They’ll need to harness that strength to add time to Toulouse’s ball because if given the freedom to play at their own tempo, the French are almost impossible to stop, as we saw in the first half against Harlequins.
The same could be said for Leinster, which makes this a mouthwatering clash.
If Toulouse allow Leinster the same amount of possession that they allowed Harlequins, they could be in for a tough final.
The first Harlequins try through Marcus Smith was a result of them holding on to possession and going through phases. The Toulouse line speed turned passive after just a few phases, something they can’t allow to happen next time round.
Toulouse rightly went after the Harlequins breakdown early in the game. Harlequins, through Danny Care and Smith, play a fast game with strong runners in the middle of the pitch and great fluidity between their backs and forwards.
However, when Harlequins began to win collisions by asking more questions of the Toulouse defence, Toulouse sat back a bit more and soaked in the tackle which allowed Harlequins to win the contact area. They subsequently gave away penalties or quick ball at the breakdown. Leinster will be looking at that template going into the final.
The setpiece will be another close encounter. Northampton looked comfortable in the scrum, trading off penalties and free kicks. Toulouse will feel they have more of an edge with the size and dominance of their front five. Depending on how the game is refereed at the scrum, it could be a huge area of dominance, leading to possession and entries to the opposition 22.
Both Leinster and Toulouse had strong games in the lineout. Leinster boxed Northampton in at the front, cutting off the middle and back of the lineout. It’s a nice level of detail that might not be visible on first viewing.
When you look at how Northampton like to play the game and how they actually played in the first half, you realise the depth and layers that go into a defensive system and stopping the brand of rugby that Northampton play.
Toulouse targeted the lineout too, competing through Francois Cros at the front. Both Leinster and Toulouse will be trying to stop each other at source and disrupting the ball going into the lineout.
Leinster’s kicking game was what gave them their first entry for James Lowe’s first try. It came from a Gibson-Park moment and long pass on a quick tap following Courtney Lawes' illegal action at the breakdown, but the lineout preceding that play was a result of Gibson-Park putting the Northampton back three under pressure with a nicely weighted kick in behind.
The talk will be about his tempo in attack, but his ability to manage the game throughout is a massive factor in how their game is played.
When the pressure came on Leinster in the second half, they resorted to their kicking game as well, putting contestable kicks into Northampton’s half to get out of their own half and slow down the Northampton threats.
It’s not all free-flowing attacking rugby with multiple offloads; the hybrid attack and game management is what makes them the effective team that they are.
The talk will be about the final, but spare a thought for both Northampton and Harlequins. English teams haven’t been overly dominant in the later stages of the competition in recent years.
When you look at how England played the game through the World Cup and before their breakout game against Ireland in the Six Nations, there wasn’t a huge amount to get behind.
Both English semi-finalists made the competition far better with an attractive, yet effective, brand of rugby. They were unlucky not to go a step closer. Northampton, in particular, had Leinster rattled close to the end of the game.
They probably lacked the firepower in the front five that is synonymous with finalists in the competition. La Rochelle, Toulouse, Leinster and Exeter in 2020 had squad depth and firepower that can get you over the line in a tight contest.
Leinster and Toulouse will rightly take the limelight after the weekend, but Champions Cup rugby, at least in the knockout stages, is in a great place.
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